Silver and Cold
by see1like
Summary: A twist of fate rips Ayase Yukiya from his pleasant and predicted life.  He finds himself in a deep space punishment facility-950A,  where killers and rapists rule. Can he survive such harsh environment?Mature contents, not suitable for minors.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**- Hey you all! I tried to stay away from fanfiction, the troubles it causes, the commitment it takes, the time it consumes.

I said to myself: Self, are you really up for starting a new story? Get stressed over updates, reviews, and all, all over again?

myself answered: Well, I can't help myself, so….yeah.

So here we are, again.

This story is something I had on my mind for a long time; it takes place in a futuristic AU. It is a bit dark and sad and I warn you- it will have a plot!

OOC behavior is unavoidable, but I'll try not to stretch the limits too far.

You can expect violence, cruelty, mature contents, so **minors- stay away!**

I'd like to warn you also about the Yaoi theme (BoyXBoy) but since you are already in the Okane ga nai fandom, you're probably into it to begin with, lol.

I'll update whenever the muse and the weather smiles upon me, but I do take my stories seriously and I try to bring every one of them to an end. Done?

So, let's take off and hope we have a nice flight

**Silver and cold**

"I, I came here by day,  
but I left here in darkness  
and found you, found you on the way.

Now, it is silver and silent.  
It is silver and cold.  
You in somber resplendence,  
I hold..."

**A.f.i**

** In The dead of night - Prologue**

The ship slowly glided down into orbit and attached itself to the massive steel anchors of the landing zone. It could have been a breathtaking sight, if he was not so overwhelmed with fear. The gigantic gas planet hovered above them glowing with gas layers as bands of vibrant colors, orange and purple and red, like some radioactive striped cat. The landing zone itself was striking and beautiful, tall and thin metal rocks surrounded the landing site, like huge razors tearing through the ground and the sunrays glittered and danced between them like through mirrors.

"Airlock in 40 seconds." the announce system declared with electrostatic indifference.

Ayase shrunk into his seat, breathing so fast that it made him dizzy and he felt like vomiting. To think that only few weeks ago he was walking on solid ground under blue skies and the only worry on his mind was a test he had to take in statistics which he did not had the chance to study properly and had a very reasonable chance of flunking.

But that was before they came in the middle of the night, knocking on his shabby apartment's door. Like a nightmare come true, a black squad appeared at his doorstep and they pointed guns at him.

"Are you Ayase Yukiya?" the commander of the force asked.

"Whhaa?" he mumbled half asleep, glaring at the black clad soldiers without a single shred of understanding.

"Voice identification conformed." one of the soldiers said, looking at his tablet.

"Yukiya Ayase…" said the commander of the group, looking at him coldly "I arrest you under the authority of the Union. You are charged with treason and I have ordered to bring you to the court of justice."

"What?" Ayase could not believe his ears, but the hands that grabbed him were hurting, harsh and ho so very real.

He was yanked out of his apartment, only dressed in skinny pjs, in the dead of night, not a single soul saw how they pushed him down the elevator and led him to the dark street, wet with rain. Near the pavement waited a massive black hammer, its engine was on and its heat spread ominous fume to the chilled air.

"Get in." was the last thing any of the soldiers bother to tell him, and a hand shoved him onto the leather seat, after that he was ignored completely.

The windows of the hammer were blacked and nothing passed through them, not ever streetlights. Ayase tried really hard to concentrate and follow the curves and turns on the road, hoping to calculate how far they have gone from his apartment, but the driver was speeding and he was too nervous so he soon lost track.

The ride through the city was extraordinary silent, giving the fact that he was surrounded by a dozen of overgrown strangers. He could not see faces behind their masks, but their body language clearly stated that they were bored. How could this be? Are they so accustomed to picking up innocent folks out of their beds in the middle of the night and driving them to hell knows where. Where were they heading? When will they take him back home? How much time will this ride last? Ayase knew there was nothing he could talk out of them. There was nothing he could do to stop this insanity, so he kept quiet.

Strangely, he didn't cry, he was too much in shock for that matter but at that time, the only thought that still nagged his head was- who was going to feed duke, his goldfish, that he left behind so carelessly.

The first night in his new hellish life he spent in a dirty humid cell, where rats' shadows ran on the walls and a sound of dripping water from some loose tap accompanied his thoughts the whole night through. Needlessly to say, he did not get too much sleep, he tried as hard as he could to remember what he could possibly had done to be considered a traitor. Every aspect of his life he pushed out of memory and analyzed every move he made, and every person he ever talked to, any post he ever published on his social-network wall. Everything seemed so ordinary banal, even borderline boring and he gave up at dawn.

'This is a mistake.' he concluded. 'A foolish, random mistake…' Ayase sighed deeply, convinced that tomorrow this stupid mix-up will be solved and everything will return to normal. With this thought, the boy faintly closed his eyes and sunk into sleep.

The next morning came as a brutal shock, he opened his eyes and for some few good moments, he refused to believe what they registered. He was not in his bed, not in his room, he was lying on a thin, stinky mattress, covered with a rough raggedy blanket. He stared at his cell's walls until one gourd banged his club on the cell's bars, making Ayase jump into seating position.

"Breakfast." The guard announced and pushed a plate through the bars.

Ayase could only glare at him.

The guard smiled and shook his head "Come on, kid, this may be your last meal, so come and grab it."

Was this advice an act of kindness or cruelty, Ayase could not make up his mind, but he did get up to take the bowl. It was milk porridge and it was too runny and sweet.

Ayase forced himself to eat few spoonfuls, before tossing the bowl away with disgust. A sudden sense of urgency surged in him.

"Get me out of here!" he screamed. He never screamed before. "Get me out of here! Somebody, please!"

"Shut up!" the guard yelled too. "Shut up or I'll make you shut up!"

And Ayase crushed on the dirty floor, crying his heart out for the first and not the last time.

Few days later, he was brought to the court to be judged. He waited and longed for that day. He had prepared speeches in his cell, he polished his arguments about injustice and his perfect flawless past. He practiced his clam that this was all a big misunderstanding and when they came to take him to see the judge he was more than ready, he gathered a fighting spirit that he never thought was in him.

Yet everything went wrong from the start. He thought he'd have a fair chance to speak his voice, but he was shocked to find that the court ran like an assembly line rather than a civilized place of deliberation. He was lined up with all the other accused, and the line moved at a pace of one person in five minutes. This made no sense at all, how could a fair trial be held in under five minutes? But the judge's hammer pounded on the desk in a fast rate. Ayase found himself pushed to the front of the line.

He raised his eyes to the judge, an old bald man that seemed like he couldn't keep his eyes opened. This was not a good sign, but Ayase had no choice, he had to speak now or be silenced forever. He breathed deeply and opened his mouth with determination. "Sir, may I begin with…"

"Huh?" the judge ogled him.

"Sir, I'd like to start by saying that…"

"Make him shut up." The judge commanded the clerks with a yawn.

One goon of a clerk stepped towards the boy and Ayase gulped, he knew that if he goes on he would be beaten or even worst.

"Show me the evidences." The judge continued and a clerk approached his seat with a stack of papers.

Putting his glasses on, the judge glanced at the documents and than he sighed. "Those are serious convictions here." He lifted his eyes off the files and eyed the prosecutor.

"I know, your honor, we demeaned death penalty."

"Death?" Ayase choked on his words. "Please let me see what I'm charged in!"

"Death won't serve us well here." The judge said calmly. "too mundane, don't you agree?"

"Please, let me see the files!" Ayase screamed, pleading with tears.

"What do you have in mind then, your honor?"

"A far more effective punishment, if you may."

"I'm not a traitor!" Ayase started crying again, but he was completely ignored.

"I've heard that in 950A they ran out of candy." The judge smirked and the prosecutor glanced at Ayase and started smirking too.

"I see your point, your honor, 950A it is." The wooden hammer came down again.

The hooking anchors screeched as the ship settled in position.

"Airlock in 20 seconds." The announce system repeated. "Welcome to 950A, everyone."

**oOOo**

**TBC**

**OooO**

**A/N**- Thanks for reading, hope you liked it enough to see you on next chapter and… reviews would be great (no pressure). Take care!


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N-** Hey everyone Last time I got reviews saying that OGN in space is a strange idea… and it is, I know. Thing is, I always try to challenge myself, and try new directions, why else would I bother writing? So I'd like to thank anyone who is willing to trust me and take this journey into deep space with me.

My warning to you- this story may get dark, there will be violence, drug abuse, pure evilness and (of course) lemons. So know where we are heading to- not suitable for minors!

Chapter two online- enjoy.

**Silver and cold**

"….Seeking candy, who sleeps around  
Afraid of telling, tiny sounds  
Left for dead, left for good  
Left for dead, not understood  
But you...always came back for MORE…"

Whale - Hobo Humpin Slobo Babe

**Morning glory**

Waking up from a nightmare became a habit of his a long time ago. He swung up panting and drenched in sweat, automatically reaching for his pack of cigarettes. He helped himself with one and after taking in few draws of calming, warm smoke, he felt his heart slowing down and its pounding stopped overbearing the usual background noise.

As always, he was the first to wake up, way before the official alarm. In the shelter of his bed, behind the curtains, he could hear the rest of his teammates' snores and mumbling.

Smirking, he finished his cigarette, once he stopped counting the days he spent in this godforsaken hellhole, he actually began to like this shit hole and call it home.

'Am I adjusting or just losing my mind?' Kanou wondered for a while before realizing that whatever the answer is, it was not going to promote him anywhere.

Stretching and yawning, he got out of his bed and changed into fresh sweatshirt and trainers, all black, off course. After wearing his running shoes, he opened the curtains and gazed at the hall. The huge cell was crowded with beds, some single beds and some bunkered ones, some had improvised curtains for a bit of privacy and some did not, and all beds were occupied with sleeping inmates, of variety of skin colors, sizes and hygiene states. Not such a lovely sight.

He passed between the beds, careful not to wake anyone, and eventually reached for the gate.

"Open up." he said, aiming his gaze upwards, where a small robot strolled its way on the ceiling's rails. The robot responded by getting near the cage as much as its track allowed it, then it sent blue rays, scanning Kanou's chiseled features.

"Biometric identification: Somuku Kanou." a rather feminine voice emerged from the robot's voice system. "Request accepted, opening gate."

The automatic gate opened and locked again behind him, saying thanks to a robot would be stupid and it strolled on anyway, so Kanou opened his new day with the routine morning run. He usually ran six to ten kilometers per day, covering most of the sections in this level. He ran pass the dormitories of the teams in his section, there were three teams in the northwest section: his team, the black one, and there were the green team and the brown team. After he passed the dormitories where most of the prisoners still slept, he ran through the mechanic section and the water treatment facility, he could carry on running on the perimeter where the other three dormitories' section laid but he chose to make a u-turn and head back into the gym.

Staying fit in this low gravity field was more than a luxury; it was a matter of survival. Most of the prisoners did not get it, and they allowed their body to decay, many paid for their laziness with their lives, but for Kanou it was also a matter of pride, he refused to let go, even if he saw no particular reason for staying alive.

He entered the gym and searched for the weights and much to his surprise, the gym was already occupied. Kanou frowned as he recognized the man inside, all clad in green with a yellow bleached hair on top, Gion looked like some exotic parrot, and as such, the man would rarely shut up.

"Hey, big brother!" Gion welcomed him with a shining smile "Up so early? Lucky for you, though, you'll be the first to know! Why so serious, my friend? I do have some big news for you!"

"I thought it was the Greens' turn downstairs." Kanou mumbled and picked up the heaviest weight and began his lift-ups.

"Yeah, we were supposed to be downstairs, Nissan, but oddly enough, the venting system got jammed so they had to let us back up."

"The venting system got jammed again?" Kanou snarled, "This place is fucking falling apart."

"I know, dude, but this is old… I have some good news to share, grand scale epic! wanna hear it?"

"Do I have a choice?" Kanou frowned again, and lay down on the matters to work on his abs.

Gion on the other hand, was not into training at all, he set down next to Kanou, smiling like a child holding up a wonderful secret and relishing on every second he manages to keep it to himself.

"There is a rumor moving around, I heard it from Roger from the Purple team and he heard it from Ray of the Yellow team… we're gonna have a fresh supply of candies this weekend!"

Kanou ogled him between push-ups and his face showed no sign of excitement. "So…?"

"So?" Gion, unable to understand Kanou's lack of enthusiasm was starting to get annoyed. "Don't you want a sweet little candy, Kanou-san?"

Kanou coldly chuckled.

"Get real, man! Don't you ever get horny? God, are you even human?"

Gion only got a ridiculing snarl and Kanou turned to work on his arms.

"Why am I bothering to deliver you such wonderful news if this is the reaction I get?" Gion gave up with anger. "This good vibe is totally wasting on you!"

"I… am not… gay!" Kanou grunted between pushups.

"So what if you're not? A hole is a hole, you picky bastard and since there's no chance in hell they'll ever bring females here, a candy boy is as good as it gets."

"Spot me." Kanou got up and moved to the bench.

"What's your load?" Gion asked.

"120 kg."

"Sure, dude." Gion rolled the weights on the floor and struggled to hand them to Kanou. "For fuck sake, how can you lift those motherfuckers?"

Kanou did not answer and started his set up instead.

"I can return the question back at you, you know." He said after a while, between lifts.

"Huh?" Gion glared down on him.

"Why don't you get yourself a candy boy, Gion?"

"Are you kidding me?" Gion nearly blushed to his hair roots. "Why should I?" he giggled, "You know what they say- Today's candy is tomorrow's toothache."

"Bullshit."

"Seriously man, sure I'm in for a good fuck but the maintenance is a killer."

"Cut the crap. You are a coward, that's why you don't apply for a candy. You have no balls." Kanou said with quiet determination.

"Hehe…" Gion laughed and scratched the back of his head. "Busted…" he added with a lower voice.

If someone wanted to get himself a candy, he needed to apply and write his name on a list. Since there were more interested inmates than actual candies, the way to win them was though a fight. Everyone interested at the same candy would have a go against each other and the stronger one wins. Sometimes people ended up dead, lusting after candies.

"Elrick Raus signed up of one of the candies."

"Did he?" Kanou got of the bench and grabbed a towel to wipe up the sweat off his face.

"Yup. Make sense, though, since his last candy died."

"You mean got killed, by him."

"Yeah… No one's gonna challenge him, I think, he is a mean ugly motherfucker…"

"Yeah." Kanou had to agree, if anyone posed a threat to him, it was Raus. 2.01 meter's giant, with a muscle power of a wild boar and a face to match. He was the ringleader of the Reds, the strongest team in 950A, no one messed with them and lived to tell the tale.

"Poor little candy, Elrick's gonna rip him to shreds."

"Yeah." Kanou had to agree again, as sad as it may be, in 950A you learn to mind your own business, sympathy for others was nothing but a waste of energy. "I'm hitting the showers before wakeup call."

"Can I join you?" Gion hurried to ask and Kanou glared at him coldly.

Gion always tailed Kanou to the showers, this was his way to insure his safety, when he was in the shower room with Kanou he never feared getting raped or teased or beaten. Kanou was the second strongest guy in 950A, and Gion was lucky to have him as a friend.

They entered the showers and there was one dark skinned inmate already there, facing the wall and jerking off. He greeted the incomers with a nod and kept going like they were never there. Kanou and Gion striped in silence, trying not to stare at the other man, and give him some privacy. They left their clothes on the bench, next to his brown ones.

"Super hot." Gion opened the tap and stepped under it, enjoying the cascade of steamy water on his body.

Kanou opened another tap and started washing his body with strict efficient movements, the alarm was about to set off and he wanted to be out of there before more inmates poured in.

Gion's hums of joy, the other inmates' moaning and the running water resonance in the room.

"Haaa!" The prisoner finally came and his com splashed on the wall and slowly washed away with the running water.

Basking in his afterglow the inmate smiled at Gion, a dreamy smile that made the blonde laugh.

"You seem to be all fired up, what's your inspiration, dude?"

The Brown chucked slightly "I got my hand on the candies' pictures. In my slacks' pocket, take a look."

"Gion…" Kanou scolded the younger man for his stupidity but the Green wouldn't listen' he picked up the brown slacks and a small brochure fell down. Gion hurried to save it from the wet floor and opened it to have a look at the candies. Most of them were cute, but there was no wonder who was the inmate's muse.

"Kanou, you must check this cutie out!"

"I already told you I'm not gay." Kanou murmured and closed the water taps of both showers. "Lets get ready, the morning lineup should start any minute now."

"No, really, you must see the guy; he is a guy, right? A little blonde hottie with big blue eyes…"

"Dream on." The Brown chuckled. "Elrick already sighed up of him."

Gion's smile turned into a bitter one, he already felt sorry for the beautiful boy who was going to fall into the arms of a sadistic psycho. After Elrick is done with him, there will be left nothing of the delicate boy but a pathetic human wreck. "If Elrick gets him, he is as good as dead." Gion held his eyes on Kanou with a sad and hopeful gaze.

"Cut it out!" Kanou roared at him. "How many times do I have to tell you? I AM NOT GAY!"

"But… but…"

"I swear it, Gion, keep it up and I'll kill you!"

"Poor Ayase-kun…" Gion whispered in silence.

The name made Kanou freeze in his place. "What did you say?"

"What did I say?" Gion returned the question.

"What's the kid name?"

"Huh? Ayase… Yukiya Ayase. Why?"

Kanou released a deep sigh. "Yukiya Ayase… of all people…"

"You know the boy?" Gion asked in astonishment, Kanou never shared his past with anyone; in fact, the bleached hair man never considered that Kanou may even have a past.

"I knew his father." Kanou admitted with reluctance.

"His father?"

"I'm signing up for him."

"You are going to face off Elrick? But you are not gay, so why take this risk?" million questions bubbled in Gion's mind.

Kanou knew how to stop those questions at bay. "Shut up or I kill you."

Gion shrank under the wrath of those dark intensive eyes and then the wake-up alarm turned suddenly on and washed all over them.

**oOOo**

**TBC**

**OooO**

**A/N**- Reviews of any kind (civilized) are welcomed. See you on the next update ^_^


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N- **Hey you guys ^_^ I want to thank everyone who gave me so much encouragement last time; it made me very happy and motivated me to go on, I'll try my best not to let you down . I hope you'll find this update enjoyable too.

**Silver and cold**

"God bless us everyone  
We're broken people living under loaded gun  
And it can't be outfought  
It can't be outdone  
It can't out matched  
It can't be outrun  
No"

**The Catalyst- Linkin Park**

.**  
**

**Into the black**

The usually deserted hangar was brought into life and sizzled with action. Under the white light of mercury lamps, hanging down from the massive steel beams, the prisoners built up an arena made out of an old, unused docking platform, encircled with worn-out ropes.

It has been almost a year since the last shipment of candies and so the place was crowded with inmates, some horny to the bone and willing to fight, others just using this contest as a source of rare entertainment. The crowd sat on boxes, containers and scrap ships parts to watch the fights.

As Gion and Kanou walked in, there were two inmates from the Orange team, tearing each other apart on the arena. A punch thrown with a deadly accuracy sent one of the fighters to the floor.

Something warm and sticky landed on Gion's cheek as they drew closer to the fighting zone.

"Ugh…. Blood!" Gion wiped his face with disgust. "I hope it's not diseased or something…"

The Orange that fell down struggled for few seconds and managed to get back on his wobbly feet. It drew some disappointment cries from the audience, who wished for this battle to end already so they could watch Raus on stage and see once and for all if someone was crazy enough to challenge him.

"Raus verses Kanou next!" one inmate called "Place your bets! Red or black? Hurry up now!" That old man probably had a keen sense of business opening up a gambling deck. Of course, in 950A money was pretty much useless, but people were creative as they gambled on the winners; staking cigarettes, alcohol and even toothpastes for spoils.

Kanou looked the commotion near the gambling stand and frowned, partly because the odds were nowhere near in his favor but mostly because he should have been the one to come up with this idea first.

Gion found a mate from the browns that filled him in on the winners and losers, the tension was high, and only two more candies were up for grabs.

"Raus is not here yet." Gion turned to Kanou after surveying the crowd. There were people from all teams but the purple one, but this was expected, the purples never took part in a candy hunt for some strange reason.

"Are you sure you are going through this?" Gion asked Kanou after a while, trying hard to mask his concern. Many people stared at them, sharing the same doubts. Inmates were peeking at him when they thought he did not notice, wondering why the hell was he willing to risk his life going against the king of 950A. Even if the wildest stroke of luck grants him victory, it only meant war with the reds, and nobody started war with the reds.

Kanou frowned at the bleached haired man. "Are you going to bet against me too?"

"Already did…" Gion admitted with an awkward giggle, and Kanou was getting pissed off by the second. Among the swarm of people, Gion located the Blue team's twins. "Check it out, Twiddle dee and Twiddle dum are here; haven't seen them in ages." He rejoiced at his getaway. "Gonna say hey."

Kanou only gave out an angry growl in return and the bastard green bounced away.

In the meantime, on the arena one of the oranges fell down for the last time. They had to drag him out of the platform like a mop, leaving a bloody trail behind. An older guy from the Cyan team stepped into the ring to replace him, and new bets were placed.

Gion made his way through the crowd and approached the twins. They were an oddity among the inhabitants of 950A, always together, always observing their surrounding with cold eyes, stoic and detached and this time there was no difference.

"Hey, Misao-san, Homare-san, whichever you are."

"The annoying green one is here, brother." One of the twins said to the other.

"Cannot be helped." The other twin replied.

"So are you enjoying yourselves?" Gion continued "Were there any great fights up until now? I've missed most of them because I helped Kanou-san get ready. You know him, yeah? From the Black team. He's got the strangest idea of going against Raus, but he's the beast, yeah, much like you guys! I've never seen you fight, though. I bet you can kick some major ass. Come to think of it… How come you guys never go for candies?" Gion babbled forward, grinning "Is it true what they say. Are you fucking each other?"

After a short pause, where the twins stared at Gion with calm, one of them sighed. "He keeps opening and closing his mouth, but I can't hear a sound."

"Must be the noise from crowd."

The fight between the orange and the cyan was a short one and was over soon, the older man from the cyan team lost. The orange waited for a new challenger but after three minutes of wait none came, so he left the stage ecstatic, he won his candy, and all his orange buds came to congratulate him, even the defeated one came staggering along to congratulate his rival.

"Those Oranges are tight." Gion commented in envy, some of his worst enemies were greens.

"Raus…" One of the twins commented.

The man just entered the scene with much drama, accompanied with his red subordinates that were frightening looking thugs as much as he was. The massive giant was soon surrounded by well wishers and suck ups that paid their respect, giving him hugs and exchanging complicated handshakes.

"Give it to the one and only! Raus is in the house!" One of the reds shouted and the crowd got into an ecstatic round of applauses.

"This new Mohawk hairdo looks good on Elrick, yeah?" Gion asked the twins but they only glared at the red ringleader with indifference.

Up on the arena, two grays were cleaning away the blood. The announcer informed the crowed that the next battle was the last one and it was over the most beautiful candy named Yukiya Ayase, as if Elrick would settle for less.

After the arena has been cleaned, Raus stepped in, to the cheers of the excited audience, pouncing about like a proud cock. He was glaring at the crowd, making funny faces and waiting for the three minutes wait to end, if no challenger steps in the ring in those three minutes, the victory was his without breaking a sweat. For a second there, Gion feared that Kanou will fold and from the looks of it, Raus thought the same. The expression on his face when Kanou stepped into the ring was priceless.

"What is this? Some kind of a joke?" He chuckled at Kanou as the black entered the ring. "Step down now and I'll let it slide."

Kanou gazed at Raus, who was wearing a smug smile on his face, finding himself very generous with this offer. But Kanou was not going to take on it; instead he took his place at one corner of the arena and took off his black jacket.

The smug smile was withering away slowly as Elrick started to lose his patience "Hey, shithead, get the hell outa here, before I paste you! That boy is mine!"

Kanou did not answer; instead he concentrated on bandaging his knuckles.

"Are you deaf or mental or something?" Raus looked at Kanou with amazement, and with some reason to it, Raus was the only one in 950A that could make Kanou look like a slim teenager next to.

"Last chance, bitch, before I shred you into tiny little pieces even your fucking mother wouldn't bother gluing!"

Kanou glanced up at the giant again and this time he smirked. "A little less conversation?" he suggested and Raus turned red with anger and stormed at him like a bloodthirsty bull.

**oOOo**

"Airlock established, docking procedure has been completed. All inmates, step away from your cell for processing." The announce system commanded with a flat tone.

Ayase's cell door opened with a faint hydraulic hiss, bright neon light from outside flooded his tiny room blinded him for few second.

"Please strip off your clothes and move to the mark." The mechanical voice kept guiding him. Ayase noticed few detectors on the wall, surveying his every move, but he saw no humans anywhere. Was he all alone in this deep space journey? Locked up in his cell, he was fed three times a day, he was supplied with drinking water and had access to clean toilets, but he never saw or spoke to a soul and he felt very much troubled. What if 950A is also a barren place with no people, will he spend his remaining days in complete isolation? That fate was crueler than death.

"Strip and move to the mark." The announce system repeated itself.

'What if I refuse to cooperate?' a flesh of thought ran through his mind. 'What will happen then?'

"Strip and move to the mark." The electronic voice repeated yet again, with endless indifference.

Ayase then realized that with the same indifference, the machine will kill him if he is too much of a bother. So suppressing his worries and nerves, Ayase did as he was told, taking off his clothes and stepping to the marks on the floor. He has to place each foot on a foot mark, and it made him spread his legs slightly.

"Lift your hands to the height of your shoulders." The computer ordered. Ayase obeyed.

"Commencing biometric scan."

Green laser rays suddenly shot at him from all around, dancing on his body and forming an oddly blue-green web on his body, he closed his eyes as they reached his head.

"Yukiya Ayase, Age 18, height 1.6 meter, weight 46 kg, prisoner id 346511. Initial credit- 10 points, process complete."

The green lights died out as suddenly as they appeared. And there he was again, alone in the dark, wondering what was next, but not for long. The doors in front of him opened and he could see, for the first time in weeks, movements in the next room. His heart soared and his breath shortened, there were people in the next room! Actual living, breathing beings! But even before taking the first step towards them, he stumbled; fear clenched his throat; who were those people? Were they dangerous? Were they cold hearted killers, sent to 950A with him? One way to find out.

Ayase took a deep breath and staggered towards the occupied room, trying to forget the fact that he was naked and shivering.

"That does it!"

Ayase searched for the speaker and found a redheaded boy looking at him with discontent.

"Excuse me?"

"Yup, just look at him, no doubt about it; this is a candy delivery for fuck sake. Can this suck a little more? I don't think so."

"What?" Ayase mumbled, confused.

"Here." The redheaded boy threw something at him.

Ayase caught it with an instinct, it felt like fabric in his hands, and it was, it was a white robe, actually. Ayase hurried to put it on with a great relief.

"I'm Jeremy, by the way, and you?" The redhead gazed at Ayase with piercing green eyes.

"I… My name is… Ayase."

"Nice to meet you, Ayase." The boy named Jeremy gave him a freckled hand to shake. Ayase took it with some hesitation.

Ayase looked around, there were few more boys in the room, they looked around his age and one thing they had in common was that they were all very cute and some of them were even pretty.

"This is a candy shipment." Jeremy sighed "And I'm stuck with you candies, such a fucking humiliation…"

Candies…The first time he heard that phrase was in the courthouse and after that few guards used it as well, but still he could not figure it out.

"What is a candy?" he asked the ginger, and the boy ogled him with dismay.

"You don't know what a candy is, you poor fuck?" Jeremy started laughing, a disturbing, and somewhat hysterical laughter. "A candy is something sweet to chew on until it breaks and disappears. Come on, babe, you may be blonde but you cannot be that stupid."

"This is an outer space prison colony…" Ayase whispered "We came here as inmates, I don't understand what sweets has to do with it."

"That is where you are wrong." Jeremy smiled weakly "You are not an inmate, babe, way off actually. Inmates are people that the system can use and see some dough out of, so the system gives a fuck about them. Inmates are some levels above you in the food chain if you are accounted for something around here then maybe you are inmates' toys, single use cheap kinda toys. Some of you will not last here even one night, probably."

"You talk as if… you are not a part of this."

"Am certainly not!" Jeremy's voice got loud with agitation "I have an uncle here and he told me how things get done in this hellhole. You see, they have twelve groups that go by colors. Whenever there's a shipment of candy, they throw a contest and the winners gets their candies. My uncle is a cyan and he'll fight for me, so I got it covered. I got a spot in the cyan group and as for the rest of you; I hope it will be quick and painless."

"I don't understand."

"Come on, get real, babe."

Ayase looked around again, paying more attention so he could see that the boys around him looked terrified and broken, some huddled together, and some just crawled into a corner and did their best to disappear.

"Oh no…" the gravity of the situation began to sink in, and Ayase felt the cold fingers of fear finally clenching around his heart.

"I really feel sorry for you." Jeremy noted "all of you fuckers. If you are lucky, you'll get it over in few days. It will be painful, but it will not take that long."

"Jeremy…?"

"Chances are you'll get gang raped to death." The boy explained. "I'm sorry, babe, really am."

"How can you stay so calm? Is there nothing we can do? Your uncle, maybe?"

"Nope." Jeremy shrugged "He can help me, but there is so much he can do, you know."

The door opened again and two rows of androids rolled in. Low tech androids, which didn't even have faces, only one level above scrap, but some carried weapons with them and they were frightening.

The announcing system came back online with an introductory white noise "We will call your names now and assign you to your groups. You'll get two outfits, one bedtime suit, a pair of shows, one blanket, one pillow with a pillowcase and a towel, additional equipment will cost you credit points. You'll have two minutes to change and then the Androids will lead you to your dormitories. Enjoy your stay at 950A."

Jeremy sneered and Ayase could only feel the pounding of his heart.

"Oliver- Gray, Andy- Red, Amit- Orange, Jeremy- Orange…"

"What?" Jeremy opened his eyes wide "Orange? But I have a spot on the Cyan group. This is a fucking mistake! Check it up again!" He demanded while tears started running down his face.

"Your equipment." The robot shoved the pile of orange colored articles into Jeremy's arms "You have two minutes to get dressed." The android stated.

"No!" Jeremy dropped everything to the floor.

"You hold the line."

"Fuck you!"

The android in charge of Jeremy was not impressed by his protests. It just took him by his arms, kicking and screaming, and dragged him into the dark corridors.

Ayase could not gloat; it was not in his nature and certainly not at someone so terrified. He wondered what went wrong, did Jeremy's uncle lost or got killed, or maybe he just lied to his nephew, it could be anything. But he had no time to think about the other boy's fate, for his name came up next. "Ayase- Black."

An android stepped in front of him and shoved the pile of equipment into his arms; all the outfits in the pile were of black color. This means…

The fingers of fear squeezed his heart again. He began to breathe fast, his vision got dark and his feet felt so heavy. He hugged the pile of articles and buried his face in the pillow as if to hide, a childish gesture; the pillow was soft and had a sweet scent.

"Two minutes." The android assigned to him commanded.

Ayase felt his whole body tremble, he struggled to put on the black uniform, never did he need that much to dress.

"Hey…. Take this." A boy from behind him gently touched his shoulder.

Ayase turned and saw the boy though his blurry eyes, he was a beautiful raven haired boy and he offered him something that looked like a blue pill.

Ayase blinked for few seconds. "What is that?"

The boy appeared to be confused "Don't you know what 'Cold' is? This dose will guaranty you a painless and peaceful death, trust me. I got one for me too."

"Huh?" Ayase had no time for deliberations.

"Sebastian- Yellow."

"That's me." The boy whispered and stuck the blue pill deep inside Ayase's pillowcase.

"Your time is up." The android shoved Ayase into the dark corridors and he nearly stumbled on the floor. He tried to look back and locate Sebastian again, but the doors closed behind him, he had no chance to say thanks to that boy or ask him why he chose to help him of all others.

The android led him into a maze of dim corridors and tunnels, and they were dark, moist and scary. All sorts of tubes and cables ran along the walls, every now and then, blue plasma screens appeared and flickered in the dark, presenting long cryptic rows of numbers that had abstract meaning. Robots strolled the ceiling on upside down tracks. Strange mechanical sounds echoed the halls and as they drew on to the dormitories area, Ayase could hear human voices as well, talks, arguments, even some singing and laughs.

'What is this place?' he started crying softly without a sound. 'Where am I? Why am I here? What is going to happen to me?'

The android stopped at an enormous cage, packed up with humans, starring at Ayase from behind the bars with dark malicious eyes.

"The Black dormitory." The android pronounced "Get in."

**oOOo**

**TBC**

**OooO**

**A/N**- As always I'll be waiting patiently for your feedback….not! I'm a hopeless case, I know…lol. Take care!


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N-** This story is flowing so fast right now. I am not sure when will I bash into the dreaded writer's block (It is only a matter of time…) but as long as the muse smiles on me, who am I to complain? So there you go; an update. I hope you'll enjoy it.

Just for you to know - this chapter contains a lemon.

**Silver and cold**

"You let me violate you

You let me desecrate you  
You let me penetrate you  
You let me complicate you

Help me, I broke apart my insides  
Help me, I've got no soul to sell  
Help me, The only thing that works for me  
Help me get away from myself…"

**Closer- Nine inch nails**

.**  
**

**The deal**

"No…" Ayase whimpered almost unwillingly as he was shoved into the cage and the gate closed behind him. In a matter of seconds Ayase completely changed his mind about the android; from a scary metal monster it became a gallant protector, who just transformed into an abandoning betrayer, deserting him to the mercy of those savage beasts inside the huge cell. All those shifts of emotions were both confusing and exhausting, but Ayase could not afford either.

The boy swallowed and slowly raised up his head to the men in the cell, who were slowly forming a circle around him, and they glared back at him in a tense stretched silence.

'Breathe in… Breathe out….' He reminded himself, forcing himself to think, a panic attack was not going to lead him anywhere, and showing weakness could only make things worse. 'Maybe… if I'm nice to them, they'll be nice to me too.' He thought 'If I show them I that I like them, maybe they'd take pity on me.' It took all the courage Ayase had within him to face the men in front of him and smile.

"Hello, I'm Yukiya Ayase, nice to meet you. Can you please help me settle in?"

The answer soon came with a quick movement from a direction Ayase did not anticipate; someone just snatched his pillow with a swift movement.

"Jeez, Kiddo, thanks, I've wanted a new pillow for a long time."The inmate who stole the pillow grinned at Ayase and all the boy could do in return was to stare at him, stupefy.

The man sniffed the pillow with open pleasure. "You see, someone peed on my pillow two months ago and no matter how many times I washed it, the stench never came off…"

"Ho…" was all Ayase could say, nodding automatically, and he hated himself for that.

Next thing he knew, a bearded man with lots of tattoos approached him and smiled. "Hey, sweet-pea, I'm Tom." He presented himself as if to a child.

"Ayase…" the boy answered, trembling.

"I'll take the blanket now, honey." Tom announced and reached out his tattooed arm to seize his desirable object with no hesitation or the slightest hint of guilt.

The sting of this insolence and the sense of helplessness grew inside the boy, until it was choking him, forcing him to breathe faster, pushing tears down his face.

Ayase glared at the group of men huddling around him, from the look on their faces, none of them was about to offer him any aid, or sympathy or anything. He came to a horrible realization- he was all alone. So far away from home, locked up in a room full of monsters, this was something Jeremy predicted and apparently was right about.

"I'll take this lovely white towel." Another inmate smirked and he sent his hands to Ayase. This time Ayase was determinate to put some resistance, he feebly held on to his towel, but the inmate was only amused.

"Come on, little candy…let go."

Something about that melodic voice, accompanied by the most charming smile, made Ayase give up his hold.

Soon enough, all of his possessions acquired only half an hour ago were gone. For some stupid reason he missed his pillow the most because he had the strangest, foolish urge to cuddle it.

"Time to see what we've won!" An inmate with scary watery eyes suggested and eagerly pressed against him, pushing him to the bars.

"No!" Ayase whimpered as the man touched his face with his rough, filthy fingers.

"No!" Someone mimicked his high pitched voice.

"Gosh, is it even a boy, they sent us?" one inmate snarled.

"Why? D'you think we lucked out with a female here?" another asked, excited.

"One way to find out, dude…"

"Yeah, let's see if he's even got a pecker!"

"No!" Ayase cried out again in terrified agony as two men seized him and tried to lower down his pants. He squirmed in the men's arms like a fish out of water, no breath, no hope.

"Hey!" Came a deep roaring voice from down the hall and before they knew it, the two men who were trying to strip Ayase had been pushed away from him, each of them wailing in pain.

Ayase looked up and through his teary eyes he saw the tallest and strongest man around, grabbing each of his attackers by their hair and bending them down into an awkward position.

"Hey there, Frank… Joe… Would you please explain to me what the hell were you trying to do?"

The two inmates blinked at him, wearing innocent looks on their faces. "We were just… playing around with… our candy." One said and the man narrowed his eyes at the answer and tightened his grip on the two, actually uprooting some hair and making them scream.

"I'm sorry… did you just say "our candy", you stupid motherfuckers?"

"But…but…"

"We thought…"

"I'll say this once and you should ALL pay a very good attention!" The man growled, making everyone around him shrink in fear, including Ayase. "I did not win this candy for any of you sorry assed punks! I won it for myself, got it? This boy is mine, and I'm not into sharing. Understood?"

"Yeah…K…K…Kanou-san!"

"Haaa!... sir, please… let go!"

The two men quivered in pain, hopelessly trying to get away from the iron grip.

"Sleep on it." The man concluded and bashed their heads together. Both inmates fell down, unconscious, like sacks of potatoes.

Kanou passed his hostile gaze through the rest of the crowd. "Next one touching him, I'll break his fucking arms!"

The inmates broke eye contact and lowered their heads; some started retreating slowly to get away from the danger zone.

"I'm not done with you, jerks!" Kanou yelled at them with his thundering voice. "Get his stuff back! Now!"

Ayase could not believe his eyes as he saw the inmates running around and fetching back his equipment. Piece by piece, they placed everything back in his hands.

"There you go… kiddo…see? Still nice and clean. Ok?" The last inmate placed back the pillow in Ayase's hands and smiled at the blonde. "No harm done."

Ayase glared at him, confused and then he remembered his good manners and smiled back.

The inmate was about to say something else, when Kanou lost his patience and kicked him away with all his might. "Get the fuck off!"

The man landed three meters away, crushing into the bars, squirming with anguish.

"Is there anything still missing?"

It took Ayase few seconds to realize that this astounding man was actually talking to him now.

"No…no, sir…" he peeped, blushing."Thank you so much for…"

"Come on." Kanou interrupted the boy mid way through his display of gratitude.

Ayase clamped his mouth shut, confused.

"Well?"

The boy looked up at the irritated man and saw no other choice but to obey. He struggled to work his wobbly feet and keep up with the man's quick and decisive strides, leading him to the further end of the hall.

As they walked, Ayase tried to figure out the man's intentions, but he wore such an aloof expression on his face that gave none of his thoughts away.

"Here… this is my zone." The man stopped in front of last bed, placed next to the wall. Ayase noted that it was the only bed in the line, something that indicated the man's high status. Maybe this was the leader of the black team?

"Get in." The man opened the curtains to reveal a king sized bed.

Ayase gasped, this man was definitely the alpha male of this group… which brought up the question- why would he be interested in such a puny little guy like himself?

"You can stash your stuff in the nightstand, there's enough room for it. Keep the pillow and blanket out though; you can place them at your side of the bed."

Ayase turned to face him "My side of the… are we going to… sleep together?"

Kanou's hand was about to bring the lighter to a cigarette placed in his mouth and it stopped half way through its journey.

"Aren't you a naïve little thing…" he turned his eyes to the boy and chuckled."Take a good look at me, candy; do I look like I run a charity here?"

Ayase studied the man's appearance with careful attention for the first time. The man looked like he was involved in a horrible fight; he had cuts and dark bruises everywhere. His jaw line was swollen and purple, his left eyebrow was recently stitched, he lost a fingernail on his right hand and Ayase knew he was in a lot of pain, but somehow he managed to conceal it.

Kanou lit up his smoke and tossed the lighter on the nightstand. "I went against the king of 950A to get you. I kicked his ugly ass for everyone to see. The man is in a comma right now, but when he wakes up, there will be nothing he'd want more than to even things up. I walk a thin line here, so… unless you make this work for me, I'm no game."

"I….I don't understand." Ayase mumbled.

Kanou sucked on his cigarette and released a cloud of smoke "The way I see it… you have two options."

"What options?" Ayase asked bitterly.

"Option number one- you take off your clothes, lay on the bed, spread your legs and let me fuck you."

Ayase gasped helplessly "…option number two?" he managed to ask before choking.

"You get back outside and manage things on your own."

"What? This is insane!" Ayase erupted, nearly bursting in to tears. "If I go outside again, they'd kill me!"

Kanou sucked on his cigarette again and glared coldly at the boy. "Yeah, 950A is a bitch." His dry voice held no empathy.

Ayase gasped, ogling Kanou with disappointment and fear, tears started running down his eyes again and he wished this nightmare to end already.

"This is not fare!" he lashed out eventually "None of this is fare! I don't belong here! I hate this place! I hate all of you! You are all monsters!"

Kanou took the time to finish up his smoke and then he crushed the butt at the wet wall.

"I'm offering you an honest deal." He said with calm. "You have no idea how hard it is to keep a private candy… and such a beautiful one too. Many people already turned green on me, I'll have to constantly watch my back, not to mention yours… so… if I'm going through this hassle, it's only after you make it worthwhile."

"What do you want me to do?" Ayase whispered, shivering.

"Taking off your clothes would be a good start."

Ayase blinked at the man through his tears, and Kanou stood there, like a marble statue, showing no emission, cold and rigid like a rock. The boy assumed that this frozen expression would stay on the man's face, whether he starts undressing or turn away and leave.

'Breathe…' Ayase had to remind himself, as more and more tears rolled down his face. Strangely, even though his whole body trembled without control, his hands moved up with determination.

He wasn't sure of what his hands intended to do, until he felt that his fingers clenched around the first button of his shirt, undoing it and work down to the next one.

When his shirt was fully open, he took it down and let it fall on the floor. He followed it down and reached his shoes, the shoelaces gave him a bit of a fight, but at the end he managed to get them off.

Ayase straightened up again, glancing at the man in front of him.

Kanou watched him the whole time with narrow eyes, but he didn't move or talk.

It was so unreal; the silence between them, even the background noise from outside seemed to be lessened. Ayase could hear almost nothing but his own quivering pants, and the pounding of his heart.

The man noticed his hesitation, and a ghost of a smile hovered on his face, taunting him. Ayase knew that the man was not going to lift a finger to help him. This was all or nothing, either he goes through this willingly or he gets thrown out to the cold.

Ayase licked his salty lips and drew a deep breath, and then, with one sharp movement, as if removing a band-aid, he took off his pants along with his boxers.

Staggering, Ayase climbed up the bed and lay on his back; trembling, new tears started flowing with a stinging sensation one's get after crying too much. On the corner of his eyes he could finally see the man move away from his corner. He moved with the grace of a predator, lazy, smooth movements of a hunter who knew that he had already caught his prey.

Ever since Kanou won his candy, he wondered if he could get it up for another male, his body took him completely by surprise with the answer. As he watched the boy undress, not only that he got the hardest erection he had experience, his whole body seemed to catch on fire. Of course, none of it showed, but he was craving the boy desperately, and when Ayase lingered with his pants, Kanou was on the verge of stepping in and tear the damn thing apart.

The boy claimed on the bed, shivering and crying. In some sadistic corner of his mind, Kanou enjoyed the boy's suffering; after all, this could be the karma's ultimate payback. This boy's father was the one to destroy his life, and now he could use the son to get even.

Kanou smirked and followed the blonde into bed; he climbed on it, mounting the boy's delicate body, so small and frail and beautiful.

Kanou couldn't resist the urge of lacing his fingers through the boy's hair; it gleamed like molten gold and it was as soft as silk.

"Please…" the boy plead in tears."Please don't do this…"

Kanou looked into those dazzling blue eyes. Clear blue sky eyes, it has been almost five years since he was deprived of this color, thanks to the boy's father.

"It's too late to change your mind. I'm not holding back." Kanou answered and he couldn't even if he wanted too, his body recalled the pleasures of sex and it demanded its release.

"I'm scared…" Ayase whimpered. "Please…. Let me go…"

Kanou's gaze drew to those beautiful quivering, soft, rosy lips. Would kissing them be like kissing a woman? Should be, after all, the boy had no facial hair whatsoever.

Kanou lowered his head and pressed his lips against the boy's. It was heaven. With an instinct, he pushed his tongue in, not minding the boy's feeble attempts to resist him. The inside of Ayase's mouth was warm and sweet and by god, did he miss this sensation. His hunger only continued to grow.

Kanou growled, as the boy's attempt to resist him increased, he actually used his hands to try and push him away, how annoying. Without ending the kiss or even taking his tongue out, Kanou took the boy's wrists and held them together above his head, this way he could continue devouring the boy without distractions. He only stopped after Ayase ran out of air.

Then Kanou turned his attention to Ayase's nipples. He had such lovely rosy nipples, it almost compensated for the lack of breasts.

Still restraining the boy, Kanou leaned down and took one tempting nipple into his mouth. It was soft and nice to suckle on, Kanou's lips just couldn't get enough. When he finally left it, the abused nipple was swollen and red and wet with saliva. Kanou smirked and turned to give the other nipple the same attention. Ayase's twists and squirms only gave him more excess to the sweet nipple and he sucked it hard and slow.

Kanou's erection pushed against his zipper; growing impatient, rubbing against the boy's thigh was not enough anymore. It was time to step up the game.

Kanou lift up his gaze up "I'm going to release your hands now, Ayase, but if you don't behave, I'll tie you down. Understood?"

Ayase nodded, weeping in silence.

Kanou released the boy's wrists, and noticed that he held them too tightly; purple bruises were starting to form around them like bracelets. He noted to himself to be gentler next time.

"Are you a virgin, Ayase?"

The blonde nodded again, tears streaming down his beautiful face.

"Thought so…" Kanou hummed "That's why I got us some lube."

The boy did not seem to appreciate his efforts.

Kanou reached for a drawer in his nightstand and grabbed a tube. Getting his fingers coated with the lotion took him some precious minutes, and his hard cock protested against it, but it was very important to treat a virgin with care.

"Open your legs." Kanou ordered, his voice came out somewhat coarse.

The boy lingered, he was already beyond tears, and very much exhausted.

"Ayase…don't be shy."

"Ok…" the boy slowly obeyed, spreading his legs, wonderfully shaped, supple legs.

The boy had a perfect round and smooth little ass, no trace of pubic hair on his groin or his buttocks. Kanou's erection pulsed with glee.

'This is just like taking a woman from behind.' Kanou concluded with contempt as he reached between those legs to find the little pink entrance. It was soft and warm to touch, but it shut at his touch like a clam and put much resistance.

Kanou could breach it easily, but it only meant tearing the boy apart. "If you don't relax it's going to hurt." he said, with the tiniest bit of concern.

Ayase hitched his breath and sobbed when Kanou shoved a finger in, and then two. Was he in pain? Kanou tried to be very careful, but it was very difficult to make slow movements, to widen the tiny ring of muscles, to prepare this virginal anus to penetration.

"I told you to relax." Kanou repeated, he tried his best to stall, but his lust grew and took over. This alabaster, enchanting body drove him wild. He managed to forget completely that he was about to fuck a male. He took out his fingers and placed himself in position instead. His hand released his aching member from its cage.

The boy's eyes followed that movement "No!" Ayase cried again, eyes wide open with terror.

Kanou was beyond listing, he pushed himself in. All he could think about was the wonderful tight heat that suddenly engulfed him, flooding him with pleasure he almost forgot about. When was the last time he was buried inside such wonderfully hot and humid flesh? His body must have craved it for so long and now… a dream comes true.

His urges took over, he started thrusting in and out, the whole world could burst into flames and incinerate to ashes, he would not notice. All he could focus about was this divine sensation, of thrusting in and out of that tight hole. The more resistance he encountered from that virginal anus, the better the friction was, sending him to pure bliss.

After pounding into the boy relentlessly, losing track of time Kanou began to feel he was about to come, the familiar heat settled in his lower abdomen. He pushed in and out, oblivious to everything but his growing needs, and after few more thrusts he came. He came hard and strong to release a stream of semen into the boy. The flow was abounded and it took a long while.

Yet, as Kanou waited it out, he realized with dismay that his hunger was rising still. His member slowly got hard again, while inside the boy, the urge to start thrusting again took over. Kanou had no choice but to obey his needs so he started moving again, wondering how many times he'll need until he comes back to his senses.

After the veil of desire was finally lifted, Kanou glanced down at the boy with worry. "Ayase?" he whispered softly, but the boy has already passed out.

**oOOo**

**TBC**

**OooO**

** A/N**- Did you know? It has been researched and proven that reviews keeps writer's block at bay. Ja ne !


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N**- Hello again, dear readers and reviewers, I hope this update finds you all healthy and happy.

First, I want to thank you guys for all the wonderful reviews I got. You've blown me away with your warm kind words, I thank you with all my heart ^_^

I want to address two issues before we begin.

One- I got people saying that Kanou's behavior here is much colder and crueler than in the Manga.

You are correct, I'm not trying to hide it, but the reason for this is that in this AU story Kanou spent the last five years in 950A, and this would make anyone colder and tougher. Don't you agree?

Two- Romance is lacking now, I am well aware, it will take time to develop. I hope you got enough faith in me to endure until it comes… and it will, eventually.

So, here we go.

Warning- some violence and gore ahead (not rated M for nothing…)

Enjoy.

**Silver and cold**

"Welcome my son, welcome to the machine.  
Where have you been?  
It's alright we know where you've been..."

**Welcome to the machine- Pink Floyd**

**.  
**

**Maintenance duty**

.

Heart tearing, hope shuttering, soul hunting sobs seeped into Kanou's dream. Those were the cries of a desperate child that already lost faith in the world.

Kanou opened his eyes and realized that those cries were not part of his dream, but originated in reality.

Ayase was crawled into a ball next to the wall, his head leaned over his knees and he tried his best to keep his voice down, but in vain.

'Shit…' Kanou frowned, what time was it? Two or three hours before wake up call, and he badly needed his sleep. He remembered Gion's words about the maintenance of a candy, a killer indeed.

"Hey, candy-boy, if you lean that way against the wall you'll get pneumonia, and you can forget about me spending the credit to get you meds!"

"So…Sorry…" Ayase answered, still weeping, he pushed away from the wall.

Kanou growled and burrow under his blankets. "Keep it down; I'm trying to sleep here." He turned his back to the boy and closed his eyes again.

Ayase covered his mouth with his hand, and he did, he tried his best to keep his sobs at bay, but his useless efforts only made it worst. He couldn't help it, and when he nearly screamed into his hand; he realized he had to change his tactics. He decided to bite on the palm of his hand, channeling all his helplessness and fears and self-loathing into this act, converting his anger and angst into an actual physical pain. It worked; he stopped crying, stopped bothering the man beside him and allowed him to sleep. Blood tricked down his mouth, he could taste its bitter metallic flavor trickling down his throat.

For some odd reason, the silence bothered Kanou more than the cries so he let out a deep, angry roar and straightened up with a swift movement.

Ayase flinched, the man looked like he was going to smack him, wasn't he quiet enough?

"Cut it out!" Kanou shouted, taking Ayase's hand out of his mouth.

The blood dripped on the sheets and Ayase observed it with horror.

"I'm so… sorry…" he started weeping again, shivering all over.

"Enough!" Kanou yelled at him again. "What is wrong with you? Why are you sitting here crying in the middle of the night, huh?"

Ayase shrunk on his seat. "I'm… I'm sorry…"

"Stop those fucking apologies and tell me what the hell is the problem!"

Ayase gulped, he was not keen on sharing his embarrassing situation.

"Spill it!"

Ayase blinked at the raging man, contemplating and deciding he had nothing more to lose. "I…I" he stuttered, blushing. "I need to… go to the bathroom… really…bad."

Kanou gasped at him astounded. "Is that all? This whole drama is over going to the fucking bathroom?"

"I… I don't know where it is and I… I don't want to go there… by myself."

"Yeah." Kanou admitted that the boy had a point; Ayase's wondering around alone in the afterhours was definitely a bad idea.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Kanou said while opening a cabin in the nightstand "Here…"

He placed an article in Ayase's hand, a black hooded sweatshirt. "Get this and your shoes on."

Ayase nodded and put the huge shirt on, it was clean but still it held Kanou's scent in it. It hung down from him, like a dress, going all the way down to his knees.

Kanou himself got out of bed and put on his shoes. "Ready?"

Ayase blushed and nodded again.

"Let's go."

They crossed the large dark dormitory of sleeping inmates and reached the gate. Kanou looked up searching for the strolling robots. "Hey there, rust-face let me out!"

The passing robotic guard stooped on its trail and then approached the gate. After it preformed the identification protocol, it let the gate open.

"Aren't there any human guards in this place?" Ayase wondered as they stepped out to the hall.

"Nope." Kanou answered "950A is a 100% automated facility."

"And… if I want to go out at night… will the robot let me out?"

"No, it only let you out because you were with me. You have to reach a certain statues here to get mobility privileges. By yourself, you can only get out of the dormitories after wake-up call. Bathroom is this way…"

Ayase let Kanou lead the way, and followed silently, his belly ached and his lower back registered pain too and it slowed him down. He could feel something wet pouring out of his body, making his thighs sticky and he had to bite on his tongue not to cry out again, once recalling what it was and what actually happened only few hours ago. 'Stupid blonde' he scolded himself 'you should be grateful you're still alive.'

The hallways were strangely quiet, only random vents blowing off, or an android passing by, disturbed the stillness, but as they approached the bathroom, a sound of commotion emerged from within.

"Wait here, I'll check it out." Kanou said and Ayase nodded.

Kanou had a bad feeling about it as he reached to the bathroom and he regretted opening that door the second he did. The sight spread out in front of his eyes was horrific and sickening.

Turns out that some grays were having a party; along with a few browns and a random green. They were all involved in a massive orgy, some with each other, but most of them were raping the gray candy. And the poor boy was in a sorry state, almost unrecognizable as a human being. His face was a pulp of bloody mess, his jaw was broken open, and he lost most of his teeth and one of his eyes. His repulsive appearance however, did not stop the men, as they took turns at fucking him in his puddle of blood. They were all high on drugs and alcohol and they were going to wake up tomorrow with a hangover and a dead body.

"Wanna join us?" one gray winked at him.

At that moment, Kanou missed his old plasma machine gun the most. There was nothing he wanted more but to ash them all down.

He slammed the door close and looked at Ayase. "This place's taken. There's another bathroom on the other side of this hall."

"Ok." The boy said, forcing down his pain.

"Damn it." Kanou cursed softly under his breath, the blonde walked so slowly and they really needed some distance between them and the party people. Kanou grabbed Ayase and scooped him up in his arms. "Let's get it done, already."

Fortunately, the bathroom on the other end of the hall was deserted, and Ayase could use it safely. Kanou waited for him near the sinks as boy came out to wash his hands.

"Wash your hole too." Kanou commanded.

"What?"

"With water and soap, every time you take a dump. Always keep it clean, ok?"

"Ok." Ayase said, blushing. "Please don't look…"

Kanou snarled but averted his gaze.

Ayase put some soap on his hand and reached for his behind. Luckily, the huge sweatshirt that Kanou gave him kept the cleaning act hidden anyway. Ayase washed his abused entrance and with this opportunity he cleaned his inner thighs as well.

"Done." He announced softy as he finished.

Kanou's gaze fell on him again. "One more thing..."

Ayase winced away wondering what perverted demands Kanou will claim next. "Yes?"

"Never hurt yourself again. If you have a problem, or a request or something you need done, always come to me. Don't suppress it by injuring yourself. Got it?"

A small smile found its way to Ayase's lips as he nodded.

"Hurry up now, I want to go back to sleep."

**oOOo**

Two hours later, Ayase experienced his first wakeup call in 950A, and it was dreadful. The sound of the screeching alarm woke him up in frenzy.

"It's alright, don't panic…calm down." Kanou said, holding the shivering boy in his arms, petting his hair. "This is just to make sure everyone is ready for line-up."

"A line-up?"

"Get dressed."

Ayase wore his black outfit and followed Kanou out of the curtains. Everywhere, inmates were at different stages of waking up. Some stretched and yawned loudly, others cursed the damn alarm and tried to hide under their blankets, some formed groups and chatted in good spirit, others were already picking up fights.

Two men approached Kanou and Ayase. One tall and dark with a gorgeous mane of dreadlocks, carrying a tablet and the other was shorter and somewhat chubby with a small mustache. They all moved as if this was their morning routine.

"Zack, Hassan… good morning." Kanou greeted them respectfully.

"Morning, sir." The chubby inmate replied.

"What do you got for me, Zack?" Kanou asked and the taller inmate handed him his electronic sheet.

"Those are the updated stats, sir." Zack explained "We are at day sixteen to maintenance and we completed 48% of the tasks."

"We are 5% behind schedule." Hassan, the man with the mustache added. "It could cost us 500 group credit points."

"We cannot lose 500 credited points over maintenance duty." Kanou stated "We need all the credit we can get before we go downstairs."

"Yes sir, we know."

"Who's slacking?"

"Well…" Zack grinned. "Everyone…"

"I got this." Kanou said, after examining the data.

"Who's the boy?" Hassan wondered, referring to Ayase.

"My candy." Kanou answered, petting the boy's hair for the second time that morning. "Ayase, say hey to my lieutenants."

"Nice to meet you." Ayase whispered, blushing.

"Cute kid." Zack chuckled.

"Zack, I want you to arrange the men and block the gates when they open."

"On it." Zack nodded and took his leave.

The alarm finally died out and replaced by the announcing system. "All inmates please report to line up. All inmates please report to line up."

"Let's go." Hassan said. "It is very important not to miss the line up." He explained to Ayase.

"Why?" Ayase asked.

Hassan smiled at the boy "If you miss the line-up five times in a raw, the system considers you as dead, and takes you off the utility database. Then you can get really dead."

Without understanding much, Ayase followed Kanou and his second in command to the bars at the end of the cage, all the inmates lined up there, waiting quietly in order.

"Morning line-up is now commencing." The announcing system declared.

Zack came back to take his place next to Kanou at the line up. "It's done."

"Good." Kanou nodded.

Ayase noticed the gathering of three robotic guards on the tracks up the ceiling; it looked like they were up to something.

"What are they doing?" He asked Kanou.

"They came to scan us, to see if everyone is still alive." Hassan hummed.

"Why? Aren't everyone still alive?"

"Most of the days, most of the people are mostly alive." Zack smiled at the blonde and winked.

At once, all of the robots activated their laser rays, passing from one inmate to the other, scanning them up. Ayase had to close his eyes as the irritating rays threatened to blind him.

"Scan completed- Black team's population at 100% capacity." The robot declared in its surpassingly feminine voice. "Morning line-up is completed."

Its declaration was followed by the clacking sounds of the gate opening.

"Not so fast!" Kanou raised up his voice above the commotion.

Zack and the rest of Kanou's troops lined up at the gate, preventing anyone from going out.

"What's up with that?" an inmate complained.

"Yeah, man, it's breakfast time!" said another.

"Let us through!" one tried to push his way out, but he bounced into Zack's firm body and was pushed away.

"Hold it right there, you scummy cunts!" Kanou roared at the blacks. "I have a list of tasks here, saying that we lag behind at 5%. The following names I'm going to call out will not get their breakfast due to a major delay in task completion: Tom, Charlie, Fred, Tyler, Jamal, Ronnie, Alex and Pavel. Instead of breakfast, you are going to use the extra time to finish your tasks. If I see anyone of you in the dining room, I am going to break his teeth. If you don't finish your tasks until noon, there is no lunch either and as for dinner… you know where I'm heading."

"This is not fair!" one of the men listed protested. "The Greens and the Browns lag at 11%"

"The Grays lag too."

"I don't give a shit about the Greens or the Grays!" Kanou scolded them, greatly annoyed. "Let me remind you that in three weeks time, we are going downstairs. Downstairs, as you all know, is a motherfucker; and we'd need all the credit we can get! It's been a while since I put someone in a comma so you are all welcomed to try me! "

This was it, from the looks on their faces; it appeared that the punished inmates accepted their faith.

"Hassan, I want you and your men at the kitchen until it closes, if any of those lazy fucks enter it, let me know."

"Certainly." Hassan nodded his head.

"Let's go." Kanou turned to Ayase.

Ayase held on to Kanou, like a frightened little child, as the huge mass of Blacks made its way to the dining hall. Inmates of all team and colors mingled further down the stream, and they all flowed into the dining room.

There were rows and rows of steel tables and benches, and Kanou noted that all the strategic seats near the exits and the walls have already been taken.

"Let's get in line." Kanou said, pushing Ayase gently in front of him.

The dinning hall resembled any other industrialized huge kitchen hall. There was a line to get trays plates and cutlery, another line to get to the counters that served the food and a line to the dishwasher. The difference between 950A's dining hall to others was that androids served the food and they did it behind screens that could close down and lock up.

Ayase was surprisingly hungry; he took that as a good sign, feeling safe enough to develop a healthy appetite. Kanou behind him and Zack at the front, he did not even register the lusty leers he got from other inmates, but Kanou did.

"If you want to keep your tongue suck it back in!" He growled at a blue.

Ayase approached the first counter at his turn, curious about the menu.

"Name." The android asked in a metallic voice.

"Ayase Yukiya."

"Status check… completed."

Ayase gazed at what he was served; it was a 250 ml carton of preserved milk and nothing more. His eyes wondered around the room and he saw inmates walking around with huge amount of food on their trays. Why was he treated so differently?

Kanou was next in line, and the androids served him with abundance. A huge mound of scrambled eggs, big fat sausages, a nice variety of vegetables, cheese, coffee and even two cupcakes.

"Why did I only get milk?" He asked Zack, not hiding his envy and disappointment.

"Welcome to the system, kiddo." Zack answered. "Here you get fed according to your status, and you gain status by earning credit points."

"How do I earn credit points?"

"By completing tasks. You're a newbie, so you haven't got a chance to complete tasks yet."

"This is so cruel!" Ayase pouted "I could starve to death before I get enough credit!"

"950A is a bitch…" Zack answered in what was revealing to be the mantra of this place.

Kanou led the three of them to a table, all the while Ayase's belly was rumbling and he ogled the other inmates' plats, smelling the wonderful smell of freshly cooked food that he had no access to and he was nearly drooling.

"Hey, Nii-san!" came a voice from behind "Can I join you?"

Ayase turned to look at the speaker, it was a man clad in green, with yellow bleached hair and a black shiner on his left eye.

"Sure." Kanou said.

So Zack sat to Kanou's left, and the green to his right, leaving Ayase standing with his practically empty sad tray, confused.

"Sit in my lap, Ayase." Kanou turned looking at him.

For a second there, Ayase thought that he man was joking, but Kanou's face looked ever so serious. The boy blushed. "I…I really don't think that…"

"It is safer that way." The man explained.

Ayase was not given a chance to think it over; Kanou just grabbed him and placed him in his lap.

Kanou's body was solid and firm and it radiated a surprisingly tremendous amount of heat. Reluctantly, the boy admitted that he felt comfortable, bundled up in Kanou's arms.

"Try not to move so much." Kanou groaned with a tormented low voice.

"Sorry."

"Dig in."

"Huh?"

"I said- dig in, I'll share my food with you."

"Really? Would you do that?" Ayase was nearly moved into tears, he wanted to say thanks but got ignored, Kanou's attention was already elsewhere. With hesitative movements, he picked up his fork and nibbled into the tasty food.

"What's with the decoration?" Kanou asked Gion.

"Nothing, really." The green smirked at the black.

"Whatever…"

"Ok, ok… some of my teammates got into their pretty little heads that I owe them 500 credit points."

"And why is that?"

"Because I may have said something about …say… smuggling some dope for them."

"Did you lie to your fellow inmates, Gion? That is beyond stupidity."

"Did not!" Gion erupted "I actually made all the proper arrangements! I have a guy who has a guy at the loading bay at 445S."

"So what went wrong?"

"Of all the motherfucking automated shipments to this godforsaken hellhole, my lousy ship was selected for a random inspection."

"Harsh."

"You think? It gets even better because I used every credit point I had to make the deal and now I got zip to pay them back."

"Pay them back with your ass." Kanou kindly suggested.

"My ass's too old."

"And ugly."

"Geez, Kanou, you're such a sweetheart."

"K…Kanou-san…" Ayase's voice was just above a whisper. "Can you please help him out?"

"No, it's fine, cutie." Gion smiled at Ayase "I'll just have to… come up with something brilliant soon, or I'm thirteened."

"Good luck." Kanou said.

"Kanou-san…" Ayase was not ready to give up, but he was ignored again as newcomers arrived to the table, seating opposite to them.

At first Ayase thought that his vision has gone bad to produce a double image, but no, the two young men of the Blue team were indeed twins.

Kanou glared at them, chuckling. "Well, well, the Kuba brothers are here. Is it already the time of the month? Ne, Homare?"

"I'm Misao." The Kuba Kanou referred to, kindly corrected him.

"I don't give a fuck. Fuck off."

"Why? Can't a man enjoy his meal in his randomly selected seat?" The real Homare asked.

"Random my ass, get the fuck away from me!"

"We will not back down until you agree to join us." Misao said it plain and simple.

"You guys can't take just a simple 'no' for an answer. Should I tattoo it on your ass?"

"We know who you are." Homare continued, quite bravely, giving the fact that Kanou was pissed as hell and ready to beat the shit out of them. "We know who you are and we are willing to use it."

"So you're down to blackmailing now… how lame." Gion grinned at the twins and got also ignored.

Misao smeared jelly on his bun, Homare sipped on his tea, both not taking their gray eyes off Kanou.

"What do you think you got on me, brats?" Kanou chuckled.

"We know that you're military, sir, even better, we know that you are silver." Said one of the twins.

"No one else can go against Raus and win the way you did, Kanou-san. Your low profile days are over." Said the other.

"Only silvers can move like that, Kanou-san."

Kanou's smug smile disappeared into a frown "So you got some brains up there….great…" he muttered."Now get the hell out of here if you want to keep it inside."

"Kanou-san, please…let's not resort to violence…" Homare placed his teacup down. "Why can't you see that? We can help each other! We must work together! Please, sir, you are probably the only pilot in 950A. We need you."

"And you need us."Misao continued "With the upcoming war against the Reds and their Orange and Yellow allies. You could use some reinforcement."

"As the leaders of the Blue team we are willing to…"

"Brats…" Kanou sighed, interrupting their plotting "Childish brats! Why should I bother with pathetic amateurs such as you? If you have a death wish, go and find some other creative ways to kill yourself and leave me the hell out of it!"

"But… but Kanou-san, don't you want to get away?"

"I'll be nice just this once to give you a free advice, ok? Mark my words- the only way out of 950A is in a body bag! Got that? The sooner you get this ridicules idea out of your heads the better. Now get the fuck off my face!"

"Brother?" one Kuba turned to the other and he nodded. They got up slowly, picking up their trays.

Homare turned to look one last time at Kanou with disappointment, but Misao was in rage, he searched for Ayase's eyes and when their gaze locked he smirked at the boy.

"He knows…" Misao said, just two simple words.

'What?' Ayase wondered. 'Who knows… and what exactly?'

"Fucking brats." Kanou growled "Are we done here, Ayase? Did you eat your fill?"

"Yes, sir."

"Let's go."

**oOOo**

**TBC  
**

**OooO  
**

**A/N-** I'm done for now. Now it's your turn to speak your mind, I'll be waiting anxiously. Please review, thanks in advance. See you soon, XOXO.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N- **Hey y'all! I can give you a long list of excuses as to why it took me so long to update …or… I can give you this update. Enjoy.

**Silver and cold**

"…'relax,' said the night man,  
We are programmed to receive.  
You can check out any time you like,  
But you can never leave!"

**Hotel California- Eagles **

.**  
**

**You are here**

.

Ayase followed Kanou again, like a puppy following his master. He had no choice but to swallow his pride and do so, it was a matter of survival.

"Where are we going?" He whispered at Zack that joined them.

"To the maintenance warehouse to get geared up." Zack said, indulging his curiosity.

Ayase was grateful that the man did not get annoyed at his constant nagging. He wondered when, if ever, comes a time when he runs out of questions. He looked up at Kanou and he wore his usual severe expression. That was understandable; the man had a lot on his mind, a lot of responsibilities, including taking care of him. Ayase was extremely confused, not sure of what to think, what to feel, how to react.

Yes, this man saved him from a gang rape and shared his food with him, but it was not out of the kindness of his heart, it came with a price tag attached. How much longer until Kanou finds it too troublesome to keep it up? When will he get bored and pass Ayase on, like an unwanted toy? What will happen to him then?

Ayase had so many questions buzzing in his mind, and so much fear fluttering in his heart it could drive him crazy if he doesn't learn to control it.

'A day at a time'. He concluded, seems like the only way to live in this horrific place, take each day as it comes, without planning ahead or contemplating on the past, a day at a time… will this corridor ever end?

"Dead man's walking…"

Ayase lost in thoughts, did not see the group of men dressed in Orange as they came across them at the hall until this taunting remark.

The largest one in the group dared to bump into Kanou, sending him to crush against the wall.

"Motherfuckers…" Kanou growled.

"Drop it." Zack whispered before Kanou could react, putting a hand in front of the man to prevent him from charging.

Kanou took one good look at Ayase and understood; picking up a fight now could put the boy in harm's way. The group of the oranges moved on, mocking his temporary incompetent.

"This is going to get really ugly really soon." Zack whispered mainly to himself. Kanou might have heard but said nothing, and they walked the rest of the way in silence.

At the warehouse, they met few more blacks getting ready for their chores, standing in front their lockers, checking out their outfits and gear. One of them was an old man, his skin so dark; it was almost as black as his overall, only his silver hair stood up in contras.

"Marcus." Kanou warmly greeted that man. "Just the man I was looking for."

"Morning to you too, youngster."

"Marcus, I already told you not to call me that way…" Kanou muttered, his face getting red with embracement, luckily no one paid attention to their conversation.

Marcus laughed softly "I am sixty two year old, sir, and I can call you whatever I want to. Now, what can I do for you?"

"I want you to team up with Zack and Ayase today."

"What? Man…" Zack jumped on the spot "I thought I was teaming up with you!"

"I know, but I need someone to look after Ayase, and I trust the two of you the most."

"Jeez man, I was counting on this credit!" Zack sighed with disappointment.

"Why can't I just…stay with… you?" Ayase looked up to Kanou and asked, blushing.

Kanou only growled.

Zack chuckled "Can you spacewalk, sweetie?"

Ayase bowed his head down, blushing still.

"So this is your candy?" Marcus turned to look at Ayase, scrutinizing him thoroughly. "I see that you went against my advice after all. I don't like it, sir… not one bit. The last thing you need is this kind of distraction. I never believed that you of all people would succumb to… "

"Are you done preaching, old man?" Kanou interrupted Marcus with anger. "I'll see you all at dinner." With this Kanou left them not even looking at Ayase as he took his leave.

"Damn… what's your mission anyway?" Zack asked Marcus.

"Fixing electric circuits at section 5." The old man answered offering a massive toolbox to Zack.

"Sucha bore…" Zack complained, but snapped out of it quickly. "I got this." He accepted the toolbox and carried it with ease, then he turned to Ayase. "Come on, let's go."

**oOOo**

Marcus led the way, his silvery hair shone like a guiding light at the dim corridors. Ayase wondered if this is what 950A was all about, miles and miles of cold, dark and curving corridors. Nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide, no way to get back home. It gave him a claustrophobic feeling, he felt that at any giving moment he could find himself facing one of those walls screaming and scratching the surface until his fingers are bleeding and broken. 'Let me out of this place! Get me out of here!'

He felt dizzy, he could hardly breathe or stand on his feet, and when Marcus and Zack finally stopped and unloaded their gear, they did not pay attention to his distress. Why should they? He was just a bother, just an unwanted weight on their shoulders. Ayase collapsed o the floor, one phrase stuck on his mind in repeat. 'Let me out of here! Let me out of here!'

A slap on his face woke him up. "Get your fucking act together!"

Zack was hovering above him, screamed at him; at this close proximity Ayase noted that the dark skinned man actually had green eyes.

He also realized that he was on the cold floor, curled up against the wall bashing his head into it, his hair was wet to touch, blood.

"I'm sorry, I just…"

"Freaked out? Come on; man…take some deep breaths … calm down." Zack sighed. "Don't let 950A fuck with your mind, ok? I've seen it, it ain't pretty. Can I get back to my work now?"

Ayase tried to slow down his breathing, and the dizziness slowly subsided. "Go..."

Zack gave Ayase one last look and turned to join Marcus.

The old man sulked "So this is how it's going to be? Kanou's gonna hump him and dump him on us every day?"

"Cut it out." Zack answered, slightly aggravated.

"With this candy-boy we are just like sitting ducks here."

"You take care of the circuits; I'll take care of the rest, old man."

Marcus turned to look at the inactivated plasma screen. "Time to make myself useful."

"Need help?" Zack asked but Marcus was more interested at opening the toolbox and pulling out the drill.

Ayase only observed the two men in silence.

"Did you know that more than 17% of the deaths in 950A are suicide related?" Marcus said, out of the blue, glancing at Ayase while using the drill to release a plate and expose the electricity system under it.

"Such a great chatting topic, Marcus, thank you." Zack glared at the older man.

"Light up this area for me would you?" Marcus threw a flashlight at Zack and the younger man caught it and flicked it on.

"The life expectancy of an average inmate at 950A is 15 years, Candies however, last a year at best." Marcus continued, examining the circles and the electronic components. "This area is toasted; I'll have to make a bypass." He concluded. "Zack, please hand me over the pliers."

"Yeah." Zack complied.

"Can I help out with anything?" Ayase asked, still curled up in his corner.

"We don't require your help, candy-boy." Marcus answered, smirking. "Save your strength for later this evening."

This remark drew out a moan of pain from Ayase's unwilling lips.

"Why are you so fucking harsh on the kid?" Zack asked the old man.

"And why are you so soft? Are you sweet on him? It's not healthy for you."

"I'm just saying that if Kanou decides to…"

"What? Satisfy his dick by picking up this useless toy and…"

"I am not useless." Ayase objected in tears. "I can help!"

Marcus turned to look at him with his dark eyes. "Was I talking to you candy-boy?"

"I'm not useless." Ayase mumbled to himself and without even noticing he started crying all over again. He has been here less than 24 hr, and he spent most of them crying, such a waste of space.

"Fuck you, Marcus!" … Zack rushed back to the blonde and kneeled next to him. "Hey, hey, kiddo, look at me… I know you're not useless, just give yourself some time, ok? Look at me… I'm a big guy, yeah? But even I wet my bed the first few nights in here."

"Did you?" Ayase gasped ogling Zack with his big blue eyes.

"Don't pass it around." Zack said, slightly coughing. "Life is harsh around here, even for big boys."

"It was even worse before Kanou took over the blacks." Marcus added in his dry voice. "Five years ago, the blacks were run by a bunch of idiotic goons that almost killed me when I refused to lick the leader's boots. They had little appreciation to the fact that I am the only doctor in the Black team, and a surgeon to be exact." "

"Kanou killed most of those fuckers." Zack assured the frightened boy "The rest of them joined in with the Reds."

"Kanou is the best leader this group had in years." Marcus finished with the pliers and turned to the welder. "28% reduction in mortality rate, especially downstairs, since he took over."

"What is downstairs?" Ayase asked with embarrassment. Everyone mentioned it, but he couldn't figure this out just yet.

Marcus laughed and returned to his welding.

Zack smiled at Ayase. "I think it is time for 950A lesson number 1." He picked up a bolt from the toolbox and showed it to the blonde.

Ayase looked at the piece of metal with little understanding.

"The best way to describe 950A is to think about it as a round cap bolt, about 3 kilometers in diameter." Zack explained. "There are three main sections in 950A, same as on this bolt. The first zone is the round cap, or as we call it- Upstairs. It's the dome on the surface of the asteroid. There you have real sunshine, and that is the place where they grow food and create our oxygen with both natural and artificial photosynthesis."

"The dome creates 100% of our oxygen demand and 65% of our food." Marcus added.

"Are you with me?"

Ayase nodded. "I think I saw the dome when we landed."

"Yeah, Kanou is working out there today, fixing some equipment on the outside."

"That's dangerous…"

"Yeah, the man always takes the most risky tasks on himself. That's why he got like… gazillion credit points. Anyway, to the midsection." Zack ran his fingers down the bolt. "You are here. The dorms, the gym, the kitchen, the mechanical section, heat, power and water facilities…everything is here, under the surface of the asteroid, where the sun never shines."

"And downstairs?" Ayase gazed at the end of the bolt, where it becomes narrow and pointy.

Zack had a bitter smile on his face. "Downstairs…" he sighed. "If 950A is a bitch then… downstairs is a hellhound."

"83% of deaths accrue Downstairs." Marcus agreed.

"Why?" Ayase asked.

"Why?" Zack chuckled. "You'll find out soon enough. We go down in three weeks. All groups take turns there. You see… 950A is a very strange and irregular asteroid. Made out mostly of metal, but very porous like a sponge. The Union sends prisoners here and uses them to mine rare metals. It's a very profitable business for them, cheap labor, minimum investment in safety measurements, loads and loads of metal ors of all rare kinds- Silver, Erbium, Neodymium.."

"Don't forget the Cold." Marcus added.

"Cold is a different story, mate."

"Cold is the reason we are here." Marcus insisted "The rest is peanuts."

"Fine, that's not the point though. What I'm trying to say is that downstairs is very dangerous. There's no atmosphere there, no air pressure, and there're many chasms, vacuum traps, landslides, and many accidents can happen, of all kinds."

"The bright side is that there are no guards down there." Marcus said. "No droids there, yeah, downstairs we are all alone." "I'm done here." Marcus announced and switched the power on. The dark corridor woke up to life, the plasma screens woke up to life and shone with bright blue running numbers again, the lights turned on and the tracks on the ceiling were charged again. "To the next spot?" Marcus suggested.

"Sure." Zack helped the older man to place back the board and pack up the tools.

"Wait, where does this bolt go?" Ayase asked.

Marcus shrugged and Zack chuckled. "Keep it, kiddo, it's yours."

**oOOo**

"Damn bloody hell!" Kanou cursed under his helmet. He just misjudged the situation and used too much force to take out a broken piece of equipment off its place and now he harmed the dome's surface. A miniature crack appeared at the perfect smooth face of the glass, but even this smallest imperfection could make it snap in the harsh terms of outer space. The difference in temperatures between day and night alone could expand it to a critical point. "Fucking mess!"

"Are you alright?" A fellow black teammate floated towards his position and encored himself near his leader.

"Yeah, I'm just messing everything up today, Hall. Could you please hand me over the glass crack resin?"

"Coming right up."

Kanou waited for the man to fetch the risen, while watching the spectacular view that surrounded him. Three of the gas planet moons were in a perfect line of vision, the dusty yellow one, the icy white one that reflected its planet's strips in a beautiful way and the blue distant one, glowing bright like a perfect marble.

At any other day, this view would bring some peace to his tormented mind, but not today. How could he enjoy anything while everything he touches crumble under his fingers? He made such a mess of everything, and he had no idea how to fix it.

"Sir, the resin."

"Thanks, Hall."

The man hovered back to his station, and Kanou looked at the small slit, taking comfort in the fact that at least he knew how to handle this small disaster.

The shift seemed to last forever, and it took all of Kanou's power of will to focus on his chores rather than on a certain blonde candy and the way everything went wrong.

The Khaki teams were also on maintenance duty and when they came to replace the blacks at last, Kanou went straight into the showers, not talking to anyone. He was happy to feel solid ground under his feet, and breathe without the aid of tubes, but he was still brooding. He stripped out of his space suit as fast as possible and let himself drench in the hot water.

As the water washed away his sweat and relaxed his muscles, his spirit was rejuvenated as well. 'I can make this work' He thought. 'I can show Ayase that I'm not a monster.' It was true; he hasn't been a monster for a long while now.

Motivated, he walked to his locker, making all kinds of plans how to make Ayase like him, or at least be less so goddamn scared of him. After drying himself up, he reached for his closes when a purple silk ribbon fell from his locker to the floor.

Kanou froze on the spot, but no one seemed to notice, so he picked it up and stuffed it in his slacks and continued dressing.

"Hassan!"

His second in command was caught in the middle of shaving. He turned to Kanou, face all covered with white shaving cream. "Yes, sir?"

"I got to run an errant; I might not be joining you for dinner. Make sure that only the ones who earned their meal get it."

"Most certainly."

"See you at the dorms."

Kanou knew Hassan was stopping himself from asking any questions, and he did not bother to explain further. He left the showers and went into the hall, his strides urgent and hasty. He took few false turns, in case someone was tagging along, and then he reached a corner where he stopped and carefully listened for a while. He could only hear the ordinary sounds of the automated patrol robots, no one followed him. He turned to the wall and searched for the small file he knew hid there, in a natural crack. Only few people in 950A were informed about those tiny tools hidden at strategic points along the corridors, none of his group shared his knowledge.

This particular file was place there to unscrew a small metal plate. Underneath was a button, which Kanou pushed before placing the plate back and safely hide the file in its place.

All that time, a sound of rattle intensified until a hidden door in the wall opened to reveal an elevator cell. This was one of the many hidden pass-ways in 950A, such an old complicated patchwork facility that even the robotic gourds' navigation systems did not include every route in it. Once Kanou entered the elevator, he was out of the system.

The elevator went down, in complete eerie darkness and silence; it took nerves of steel to stay calm inside. The elevator took him into the heart of the mid-section, where most of the functions already broke down or operated aimlessly in neglected oblivion.

Only one essential facility was buried deep there, the heart of 950A, the old nuclear power station that provided most of 950A energy demand, and even though it was fully functional, it ran on an independent service that precede the security system and therefore was completely hidden.

They chose this place as a safe meeting ground long ago; they relied on the heavy electromagnetic and radiation interference to disturb any attempt to eardrop on them.

Kanou sent his hand into his pocket and took out the little silky ribbon. He waited, in what appeared to be pitch-black for ordinary men, but he wasn't. He was silver, a warrior designed to fight in every possible condition; it was programmed to every fiber of his genes. His infra-red vision has already been activated, and the heat coming out of the nuclear core gave him more than enough illumination.

After a few minutes, a figure approached him; he could hear the footsteps before he located her, moving through a cloud of steam.

Gold.

Somehow he always got extremely nervous in the presence of gold. The fact that they were both inmates in this shitty space wreck didn't matter. In his entire life of servitude, he only met a handful of gold, the elite of the Union, the pure-born, and the genetically designed to rule. They didn't mingle, not even with silvers. He was more than astounded to find one of them in 950A, but their background was similar and they didn't need too many words to reach a mutual understanding.

"Thank you, Kanou-san." She passed him by, reaching for the purple ribbon that matched perfectly to the color of her uniform. "I've been looking for it everywhere…" She snatched it from his hand and used it to tie her long, dark hair.

"Someya-san, I believe we agreed to keep our meetings to a minimum."

The gold smiled softly. "Yes we did. We both don't need to draw this kind of attention. Yet…recent past events made it unavoidable, I had to see you and have some answers."

Kanou looked up to meet her eyes; they shone like bright green neon as her Infra-red vision was activated. She kept the direct eye contact longer than anyone else would dare. Kanou was the one to turn away his gaze.

"Go ahead; what do you want to know?"

"Do you have Yukiya Ayase at your possession?"

"I do, he is my candy."

"Are you sure that this is the right Yukiya Ayase? Maybe it is a boy that happens share his name?"

"It is Ayase, I saw him once at his father's house when he was about ten years old, he hasn't changed much since, he doesn't seem to remember me."

A slap came on his face, hard and strong, long fingernails scratch his face and even drew blood.

"How dare you? How dare you treat this boy as a candy? You filthy lustful man! How could you?"

He stopped her hand from hitting him again and slightly twisted her wrist and smirked as she hissed in pain.

"We are no longer silver and gold; you don't get to hit me without consequences." He whispered and twisted her hand further until she yelped in pain.

"Let go, you monster!"

He did, and she cradled her hurt arm on her chest, tears in her eyes.

"If I didn't treat his as a candy that would only raise suspicions, don't you agree? Besides… I enjoy it."

Someya chuckled, disbelieving her eras "I never knew you were gay."

"I'm not gay! It's Ayase! He is special."

"He is also the son of the rebels' leader. His father…"

"His father destroyed my life and Ayase will pay for it. He'll be slave as long as we're both in this hellhole!"

"Ayase's father saved your life, and this is how you repay him? Shame on you, Kanou-san, I thought you were a better man."

"I am not a good man. Fuck this shit! Is this is what we're here for? To pass judgment on me? Because I already told you, you have no authority on me, gold, get used to it! I don't answer to any of you! Not anymore! This is getting boring, I'll leave now…"

"No!" Someya's voice echoed in the empty halls as she screamed. "I'm not done with you! Come back here!"

Kanou smiled to himself, still screaming orders, old habits die hard. And yet he turned on his feet to face her again, the leader of the purple team, the closest thing to a female in 950A, the gold, something about her made him obey. He waited for her to catch her breath.

"As long as Ayase is here, the resistance is in great jeopardy, you understand that, don't you?"

"I do."

"Ayase is the leader's son, they'll try to make him yield to get his beloved child back."

"I know."

"The leader kept his identity as a secret, even from his son. No one must know this, not even Ayase himself, or this could lead to a disaster."

"I know… but…."

"The Blue twins, they've been snooping around, do you think they know anything?"

"They know I'm silver, for sure, I think they are pretty much on to Ayase as well."

Someya-san bit on her lip in worry. "This is bad, this is really bad. The twins are here because of illegal trade of information. They are extremely clever and they know how to hack any system known to men. They must be stopped before they reach me."

"Why?"

"Come on, Kanou-san, you know well enough that I have friends on the outside, gold that helps the resistance. If I'm found out, it is only a matter of time before they reach them too. This is so bad…"

"What would you suggest to do?"

"Kill them, kill them both."

"Someya-san, they are kids, good kids."

"It is too risky."

"I think I can make them work for us. Keep them under control."

"Are you sure you can do it?"

"They have this strange idea they can break away from here."

"If it doesn't work than we'll do it you way."

It just drew a snarl out of the gold "No one can escapes 950A"

"I know, but if I play along with their delusions, I could keep a close eye on them."

Someya lingered for a while, considering the options. "You may try it your way." She concluded.

Kanou bowed, smirking "At your service, my lady."

"We have to find a way to… solve the Ayase situation. I'm sure that the Union is already using this card against the leader. He must be out of his mind with worries and very vulnerable to blackmail. The resistance mustn't fall, not for this."

"I'm sure that Ayase's father is strong enough not to make hasty mistakes."

"I need time to think things over. And we even not yet began talking about the tension with the reds."

"We can't be out of the system of too long."

"I'll meet you after you finish your round downstairs, we'll continue then." Someya said and turned to leave, not bothering with goodbyes.

"Gold and their manners…" Kanou muttered and turned to leave as well.

**oOOo**

**TBC**

**OooO**

**A/N- ** Please leave a review after the beep. Beeeeep ^_^ see you soon, I hope X)


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N- **Hey guys, like last time I want to apologies about being late with this update. The life of a part time writer leave me very little time to write D :, You should know that I haven't forgot about this story, and I'll also take this opportunity to thank everyone who read, reviewed and put this story on his alert or favorite list, thank you for your support!

* * *

Next chunk of text is background information about the story, feel free to skip it.

* * *

My inspiration for 950A asteroid comes from a real space object named- Hyperion, a moon of Saturn, if you want to, you can google image it and see for yourself. It is disturbingly beautiful.

My inspiration to the "Gold and Silver" regime comes from the classical Greek philosopher Plato and his noted book "The republic" where he talked about the quality of humans and referred them to the qualities of metals. If I remember correctly, the Gold were meant to rule, the Silver were meant to be soldiers and the Bronze were plain civilians. I took it a bit further and added more metals, as will show (I hope) in upcoming chapters.

* * *

Now, who said that reading fanfiction cannot educate you? Lol… ok to the update we go-

Warning- hints of sex and violence (as always O_0), suicide.

**Silver and cold**

"Come on, come on  
Put your hands into the fire  
Explain, explain  
As I turn and meet the power  
This time, This time  
Turning white and senses dire  
Pull up, pull up  
From one extreme to another…"

**Thirteen senses- Into the fire**

**.  
**

**Thirteen**

"Where is Kanou-san?" Ayase asked Zack as they headed to the showers.

The dark skinned man smiled and ran a hand through his dreadlocks. "I don't know, kid, Hassan said he took off with no reason. He does that sometimes. Miss him already?"

Ayase lowered his gaze biting on his lip.

"Just teasing, kiddo, lighten up!"

Marcus stepped out of the showers with three other men who looked like they were rushed out of it, one of them sent an angry glare at Zack who returned that gesture with a smile.

"The coast is clear, Ayase, I've checked it twice, you can go in." Marcus said. "We'll be just outside to keep watch."

"Thanks."

Marcus nodded and held the door open for Ayase, and as he took a hesitant step in, a group of men appeared from one corridor, all dressed in white and heavily guarded by armed androids.

Zack froze on his spot and Marcus's black skin got so pale as if he'd seen ghosts.

"God bless." Zack moved his hand to form the sign of the cross.

"Who are they?" Ayase's eyes followed the slow march of the men clad in white, he thought he had already got the color of every team figured out, but he didn't know that there was a white group too.

"Those poor fuckers are on their way to be executed." Marcus said after the parade disappeared from sight. "They are going to join the thirteen team, the team of the dead."

"The white team sucks." Zack agreed.

"Why?" Ayase asked, trembling "Why are they going to be executed? What did they do?"

"Three things will get you executed here." Zack said. "The big three 'F's."

Marcus picked up where Zack ended. "If you get cough stealing food, or sabotaging a facility or if you get your hands on firearms, you get executed."

"There is nothing we can do for them, Ayase, they are as good as dead, better forget their faces already. Get into the showers, would you?"

**oOOo**

Gion was on the lookout, the past few days were more than exhausting; they've been a total nightmare. He tailed Kanou around like a puppy, from the gym to the kitchen, from the wakeup-call to the lights-out, but there's a limit to this strategy, and after he finished his chores, Kanou was nowhere to be found.

Not that the man owed him anything, but Gion was really pissed at him for falling off the map. Panic threatened to overtake him, he had to think fast, he had to avoid his teammates at any cost, even by ditching the dormitory, switching groups but where will he go? Who will take him in with his reputation?

He decided to think things over in the shower, nothing like a hot steaming cascade of water to warm up the brain. Most of his teammates were heading for dinner anyway, just another plus to his brilliant plan.

'You'll think of something' he assured himself, under the gentle caress of the water. 'You are smart, and young, and way too good looking to die by the hands of those incompetent baboons'. There was a way out, and he only needed time and inspiration to find it.

"There you are!" a voice resonated through the empty showers room.

Gion looked up, shampoo running down his eyes, but still he could recognized the Greens that entered the room, the ones he owed a huge amount of Credit, leader included.

"Hey you guys." He greeted them grinning like he had found his long lost pals. "I was just thinking of you."

There were five of them, two held clubs, one held an iron pole, the last two needed nothing but their fists.

"What a coincidence…" The Green leader snarled "We were just thinking about you too."

"About the Credit you owe us." Another inmate added, in case the concept eluded Gion.

"Yes, I know…" Gion said, smiling still, but fear crept into him, without the warmth of the water; he would have been a shivering mess right now. "And you should know that I work day and night to patch up a new deal that will not only repay my debt but also earn you a great fatty interest. I just need a day or two to close all the loose ends…"

The leader snarled again, swaying the club in his hand. "I've heard that before. Don't you agree guys? We've all heard this tune before."

"Yes we did, and it is getting old." Said the one with the iron pole.

Gion measured the situation and found it grim and disturbing, his mind raced, running every scenario possible, though the vast majority of them ended up with him being dead.

"Guys, violence is a huge mistake. Just think about it, if you hurt me now, you won't see your Credit ever again."

"Well, there's a fat chance we will never reach that happy day." The Green leader sighed. "At least this way, we get to have some fun."

And this was the signal, for everyone to charge.

**oOOo**

Kanou was not going to show up for dinner either; Ayase noted to himself as he proudly ate his first rightfully earned meal- a toast and a small salad on the side.

Zack sneaked a boiled egg into his plate and Marcus contributed two chunks of cheese.

Ayase thanked them, blushing, but Marcus only frowned at him and Zack chuckled a "Don't mention it."

As always after dinner, all blacks gathered in their dormitory for few hours of leisure before lights out. Some played cards; others smoked or drank, few read from old tattered newspapers.

Ayase walked into the beds filled hall and to his surprise, he recognized some of the faces already, he even managed to pick up some of the names, but he dared not catch their gaze, there was no way to deny it, without Kanou-san's protection, they'd be more than happy to rape him to death.

He stayed close to Zack and Marcus, as they walked in, afraid to stumble into one of the men that attacked him last night, was it just last night? It felt like eons ago.

"I'm off to bed." Marcus said, grunting "Those old bones can't keep going for much longer."

"Night, then." Zack said, smiling "Sweet dreams."

"Yeah…" the old man sighed with such longing, making Ayase wonder who did Marcus longed for.

"Good night." Ayase smiled at Marcus but the man was already gone.

Some of Zack's mates came to greet him, offering him a bottle of beer and inviting him to a game of cards.

Ayase could feel the man's dilemma, Zack wanted to join his friends, but he also wanted to look after Ayase. Poor guy, he has been on the babysitter role the whole day long, he deserved the break.

"I think I'll call it a day and go to Kanou's bed to sleep." Ayase said. "Good night."

Zack looked relieved and smiled "You know the way?"

"Sure, the last bed next to the wall, I cannot go wrong."

"Night, Kiddo."

As Ayaes climbed on the mattress, he wondered if he could get any sleep in this bed, after all only last night… Last night… Ayase shivered, so cold. He wrapped himself in Kanou's blanket, which was thicker and larger than his own.

For a while, he could only listen to the voices outside the improvised veil of sheets that gave him a fake sense of privacy, he could hear the shouts, the laughter, the cries and the moans, like a mad house. Would it be like this for the rest of his life?

A black cloud came hovering down on him, and he suddenly realized why some chose not to bother getting up in time for the line-up, he felt a prick of envy at the white team.

**oOOo**

The conversation with Someya left Kanou with a sense of unease he didn't realize the contradiction living inside of him, until the gold slapped him for the way he treated Ayase. Yet, he carried that contradiction for a while now, ever since he met the leader of the rebels, the man who saved his life and opened his eyes to the unpleasant truth, Ayase's father.

He spent three weeks with that man, recovering from an almost lethal injury, and the man only talked and shared classified information with him. He didn't execute him, or imprisoned him, or punished him in any way, and when Kanou was healthy enough, he did the most unthinkable thing of letting him go. He took a dying Silver, a dangerous enemy into his ship, nurtured him back to health and then let him go.

For doing so, Kanou despised him, condemning him as degenerate and weak as the Union leaders claimed him to be. But for some reason, the poison of his words slowly infested his blood, to the point that one day; he refused a direct order to fire on am unarmed civilian rebel ship.

That was the reason he ended up in 950A, and the reason why he hated Ayase as much as he liked him.

He finished his rounds, checking on the men he punished this morning, making sure they have completed their chores. Then he met up with Hassan at the kitchen and went though the figures again, discussing the best ways to use the group's credit for gearing up before the downstairs duty.

After that, he made a quick visit to the technical warehouse, spending some of his own private credit and only then, he headed back to the dormitory.

As Kanou stepped into the dormitory, everyone were way into their relax mode, but once he walk in, the atmosphere changed completely, became tense and agitated. People stopped their doing, laid their cards down, ceased their laughter, some even tried to hide their cigarettes and booze.

They were afraid of him; terrified and highly alerted to his every move, not without a good reason… great… he wouldn't have it any other way. Better keep your rabid wild dogs under a short leash.

He walked into the hall, maneuvering between rows of beds and huddles of people, ignoring the curious glances they sent at the box he was carrying with him.

Even Zack raised his head over his hand of cards and sent a questioning glare, but Kanou's face projected a 'Stay out of my away' look, so he turned back to his game.

Kanou reached for his bed and opened the curtains with one swift motion.

Ayase flinched at the sight of him, curling further into a ball, trying to take as less space as possible.

Kanou stared into those bright blue eyes, filled with fear and he found himself wishing there was something he could do about it, this little blonde boy was the only soul in 950A, Kanou wanted to find no fear in.

"I got you some stuff." He placed the box on the mattress, and Ayase just blinked at him, not moving from his spot. "It's all for you, don't you want to take a look?"

No movement and no sound.

"Fine." Kanou grunted and set on the bed, letting the box come between them. Like a magician pooling bunnies out of a hat, he started fishing out the goods from inside.

"An extra fleece blanket." He pulled a soft black fabric out of the box. "One cannot have too many blankets, trust me." He placed the blanked at the boy's feet, but Ayase was not ready to move yet.

Moving on, he drew out the next two articles. "A thermal shirt and thermal pants, very expensive but also very useful, when we go downstairs or when the heating system breaks down, which happens more often that it should."

Ayase nodded his hands tight over his knees.

"Gloves… useful for the same reasons."

Ayase nodded again, licking his lips.

Next thing out of the box was a white plastic pot. "A chamber pot." Kanou explained "So you won't have to wake me up every time you have to take a piss in the middle of the night."

Ayase blushed silently.

"One last thing… Flashlight, the batteries are already inside. It will come in handy at many times, I'm sure… are you crying?"

Ayase nodded without a sound, tears forming in his eyes and falling on his cheeks.

"Why?" Kanou couldn't hide his frustration, he expected the boy to be happy, or at least grateful, but this? How did this happen?

"Thank you very much for everything." Ayase said finally, his voice shivering.

"I thought you'd appreciate that stuff." Kanou pouted like a rejected six year old, it almost made Ayase laugh and weep at the same time. "I thought…"

"I do, I like it… a lot… all of it, very much." Ayase continued, sniffing. "It is just… it is just…"

"Just what?" Kanou barged into his words, angry.

"It just makes everything more real… all those stuff… got me realize I'll be here for a long time."

Kanou's anger washed away as quickly as it appeared. "Yes, I can get that…" he admitted reluctantly. "Nothing much to do about it, though." He said, thinking of the crazy Kuba brothers along the way.

Ayase wiped the tears off his face, scolding himself for being such a child. 'Face reality!' he reminded himself, and with the same breath he started undressing.

Kanou was busy putting the new articles in their suitable place and he didn't notice Ayase was naked until he put the box down on the floor and gazed at him.

"So how was your first… day?" he mumbled at the naked beauty.

**oOOo**

His first day was the worst nightmare ever, no, scratch that, a nightmare is something you can wake up from.

He was in a living, breathing hell, that he saw no way out of.

At his first night as a proud member of the Orange team, they gave him a welcoming prep talk, saying that his Candy position was just a stepping stone and if he proved himself worthy, he'll become a full member of the team. They told him that he should be proud of becoming an Orange, a team where every member was equal, and all had the same privileges, yippy fucking yay.

And after this pompous speech, the inmates of this noble orange team set up a vote to decide about the order in which he will give head to every member of the group.

So he spent all night long, sucking every filthy, sweating, unclean dick in the dormitory, and some of them even brought friends from the Yellow and Red team, something about social network up keeping.

It didn't help much when he puked few times, and they didn't bother with taking him for dinner, joking about his highly protein nourishment he gracefully extracted from them.

So Jeremy had so little sleep at night, waking in the morning with the taste of a graveyard in his mouth, and was handed the delightful chore of cleaning every loo in the section.

Yes, the Orange team was on hygiene duty, and as a proud member he was expected to pitch in, and who knows, this might be the stepping stone of his getting ahead.

Fortunately, he was giving the master key to every lavatory in the section, one of them was in the infirmary, and when no one saw it, he sneaked into one of the operating rooms, where there was a body on the operating table, all dressed in white.

"Fuck Organ" he said to the dead dude "The white team is the best." He grinned at the lucky bastard. "You don't mine, I hope." He reached for a drawer and slipping a surgical knife into his pocket.

The next motherfucker who shoves his dick up Jeremy's throat will lose his balls, and if that means he joins the white team too, well… fuck it

**oOOo**

He should have done it yesterday, but it is a funny thing about human beings, they never stop hoping. The desire for life was strong inside of him last night, what did he exactly hoped for? Some sort of kindness? Some sense of empathy? Sebastian could no longer remember. Yesterday he was so naïve but today he was wiser and older, much older, old enough to know all about 950A.

This place was worse than a death penalty; this placed was filled up with psychopaths, ruthless killers and mad men. Even if you came in a normal person, surviving in this distant, robot controlled hellhole, would slowly strip you from any remain of humanity. And he did not hate the men who raped him and beat him last night, he pitied them.

They were hollow shells, empty eyed, walking dead, and they had nothing to give him, so if he was disappointed at something, he was disappointed at his own stupidity, he should have done this a long time ago, he should have done it last night.

Sebastian forced himself out of bed, bleeding and broken and weak, every step was agony, every step a small victory.

All the Yellows were gone to their duties, and he was all alone, a neglected, broken doll.

Sebastian stopped three times on his way to the bathroom, and every time, to pick up the pace was a battle of will, but each time he won.

He reached for the bathroom and to the row of sinks, for some reason, he dared rising his gaze to the mirror. What he saw shocked him, he could not find his face within this mass of swollen flesh and smeared blood.

Vanity rose up in him, he mourned his lost beauty, and yet he almost smiled at the foolishness of this.

With broken fingers he opened the tap, and took a handful of water, mixed with his blood. The blue little pill was in his other hand, and he shoved it up his throat like some bitter medicine.

He drank the water and took the pill.

'There it is done!' he realized in shock. The Cold was inside him now, no turning back, but his stupid heart started beating so fast with fear, with wild hope that somehow he could escape this.

But it was done, Sebastian knew and waited for the drug to do its job.

It took longer than he hoped for, for a while nothing happened and he almost lost his mind with anxiety, was he wrong? Did they give him the wrong kind of pill?

But when the effect finally came, it came with a full force, weakening him at once, dropping him to the floor and it was so hard and cold, and he shivered, so cold.

He trembled on the bathroom tiles, contracting without control, body turning blue. His last thought was that this was more painful that they had promised it to be.

**oOOo**

And the androids brought another one to the emergency room, making it an all time record of inmates admitted to the room, four at the same time.

The ten consciousness inmates in the room ogled him, as the robotic doctor hooked him into the tubes.

"Do you know this guy?" one of the Reds asked and a fellow Orange shrugged.

"One of the Greens." A member of the Yellow group contributed to the conversation. "His own people wacked him."

"I bet three beers on the guy being thirteened by morning." Said one of the Reds.

"Three beers and a pack of cigarettes he's white in two more hours."

"You're on."

"Shout the fuck up, you cunts! It just happened now!"

"What happened?"

"What we've been waiting for, morons! He's awake!"

"Really?"

"Fucking about time!"

"Yeah, fucking time already."

Elrick set up in his bed, watching all the commotion around him without being able to make a sound, because of the tube that was still shoved into his throat.

The Reds, Oranges and Yellows all smiled at their long lost leader. "Welcome back, sir."

**oOOo**

"Isn't it part of our deal?" Ayase asked softly as Kanou stared at him, both astounded and drooling.

"Yes… but I…" Kanou actually struggled not to blush, or stutter for that matter.

Ayase hitched his breath, looking down his naked chest, breathing deeply. "I know where I am now." He whispered "And I am not going to struggle anymore, I'll do my part as long as you do yours."

Kanou felt disoriented, as if gravity decided to switch direction and everything was falling upwards now.

"Just… just please… don't hurt me like yesterday." The blonde shivered a mixture of fear and cold.

"Ayase…" Kanou's voice came out gentle and soft. "Last night… last night I lost control, and I am not proud of it. I am so sorry, it will never happen again."

The boy nodded half heartedly.

"But I do mean it, Ayase… This could be… good for you as well. I can make you enjoy it."

"You don't have to…"

"But I want to."

"As you wish, sir…" Ayase gave up.

And as promised, this time was different, much more tender and slower than before. Kanou was gentle and attentive and he tried his best to look less intimidating, but some things were just plain hopeless.

Ayase did not pass out, or felt any pain, and to his surprise he had an intense orgasm, on the last round.

After that, Kanou fell into sleep, very much content, cuddling Ayase from behind, hands protectively hugging his belly and torso, squeezing both bodies together with no space between them, Ayase could feel Kanou's heartbeat resonance through his own chest.

And he could not sleep, for a while he laid there, wondering if having an orgasm meant that everything was alright between them. Was this normal? Did it mean that this time it was not a rape? Was it possible to feel grateful and resentful at the same time?

'One day at the time.' Ayase decided and breathed deeply, tomorrow was another mystery he didn't care to unfold.

He listened to the sounds of nighttime at 950A, snores and mumbles and weeps, mechanical buzz, robotic hum, he even imagined what downstairs would sound like, wild wind lamenting in the deep tunnels.

Through a small slit in the curtains, Ayase could gaze out of the bars and into the corridors. In his struggle to sleep he counted every random robot passing by, and it worked, he felt sleep slowly reaching him, like a hesitating lover, and within the twilight of his consciousness he suddenly saw a small figure in white, floating down the corridor. Someone clad in all white, passed by in perfect stillness.

His heart raced, his body immediately tensed up, he jerked into a seating position, waking Kanou up at the process.

"What is it?" Kanou asked, grumpy but also concerned.

Ayase did not answer immediately, instead he glared out to the corridor, which was now empty again, and he wondered if he really did saw something for that brief second or that his mind was playing tricks on him.

The white figure didn't reappear.

"Ayase?"

"Nothing… It's nothing… I thought I saw something but…"

Kanou let out a frustrated growl and tagged at the curtains to completely shut them out. "Would you go to sleep already?"

"Yes, sir… I'm sorry."

Ayase returned to Kanou's warm embrace and pretended to fall asleep until he really did.

**oOOo**

**TBC**

**OooO**

**A/N- **Well? I'd be happy to hear from you. Till next time take care


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N- **So here we are guys, after a ridicules wait time that I do apologies for, but this is one of the downsides of fanfiction, isn't it? Well, I'm still into this story and I hope that you are too. I'd take this opportunity to thank you all for your lovely reviews, it means so much to me giving the fact that this is a sci-fi fic and totally removed from the original plot, so…. Thank you very very much!

This chapter contains a lemon and violence (two of my favorite things )

Enjoy.

**Silver and cold**

"…Let this battle commence, one last time!  
[And I hope for your sake, that you're on our side]  
Let this battle commence, one last time!  
[And I hope for your sake, that you're on our side]

Look what you've done to yourself  
Yeah you've lost the will to do what's right again  
Look what you've done to yourself  
Hunger to discover that you're not here…"

**Enter Shikari- OK, Time for Plan B**

**Dead ends**

He tried to hold on for as long as he could, but he was unable to, not when his only anchoring point was a piece of jagged metal that cut through his skin and made his fingers all bloody and slippery, not while the wind grew stronger and stronger, as the air bled through the open gush at the floor and disappeared into the vacancy of space, and not when the whole ship trembled violently with every explosion.

The man looked up to Kanou, gazed into his eyes and said oddly with calm. "Let go…"

"No." Kanou glared back at him with mad, wild eyes, and clenched his arm tighter on the man's elbow.

"Do it now brother or we both die …"

"No!"

The other man averted his gaze and then closed his eyes, disappointment and agony writing all over his weary face. Out of nowhere, his free hand came up pulling a dagger, driving it hard into Kanou's arm. The sudden pain loosened Kanou's hold for a mere second, only a brief second, but it was more than enough for the other to set himself free.

"No!" Kanou cried again, looking into his brother's eyes, and they were smiling in victory, while he drifted away into the dark, endless emptiness.

Another explosion smothered his scream, but he screamed just as well.

And he opened his eyes to see a very frightened, beautiful boy of golden hair and blue eyes hovering above him.

"Kanou-san…" The boy whispered, sniffling "Please… please stop screaming."

Kanou said nothing, and just elevated himself to his elbows, leaned for the drawer, searching and snitching his cigarette pack and lighter. He could only relax after the first nicotine dose entered his blood stream.

Ayase withdrew to his place near the wall, but he kept on watching him, finding it odd that no one came rushing in to check upon their leader, they could all pretend as if they did not hear a thing, but Ayase knew that Kanou's shouts resounded thought-out the entire dormitory.

Kanou finished his cigarette with stillness, and only after he had crushed the butt into the ashtray, did he return the boy's gaze.

"It was just a bad dream, nothing to be bothered about. Why not go back to sleep? Plenty of time before line-up."

Ayase tightened the blankets around his naked body and considered his options, he was pretty sure that sleeping was no longer one of them.

"Can you go back to sleep?" He returned the question to the Black's leader.

Kanou's lips curved up with a weary smile. "I'm not sure I am ready to go back there."

Ayase crept closer to the big man, and without thinking, he sent his hand to caress the man's cheek, so much like his granny would do to sooth him after waking up from a bad dream.

Kanou had already grown bristles almost twenty hours past his last shave, but his face was warm and pleasant to touch.

He remained still, as Ayase's gentle fingers traveled all over his face, following his high cheekbones, outlining his strong jaw, taking an upright turn, to his temple and finally threading into his silky black hair.

"I'm guessing you don't want to talk about it." Ayase said after a while.

"You've guessed it right." Kanou reached with his own hand and grabbed Ayase's bringing it down to his lips so he could kiss the delicate fingers.

"Sometimes talking can help."

"Talking won't bring back the dead." Kanou said, a hint of amusement glittered in his eyes, and his tongue darted out to lick Ayase's fingers, warm and slick.

Ayase breathed, taken by surprise. Kanou pulled him by his hand, into a hug, into a searing kiss, full of nibbling and gentle biting. Ayase moaned into the kiss, giving Kanou the perfect opportunity to slip his tongue into that delicious mouth.

The hug got tighter, Ayase's body pressed against the man's broad chest, not an inch between them.

Kanou's hands roamed their way down, closing on Ayase's bare buttocks, fondly squeezing the smooth mounds of flesh.

Ayase pulled away from the kiss, desperately in need of air. Kanou gave him no time to recover, as he sent one hip against the boy's crutch, robbing it slowly and deliberately into hardness, all the while two of his fingers delved into his cleft, circling his already loose hole and penetrating in.

"This won't bring back the dead either…" Ayase said gasping as Kanou's fingers found his prostate.

"I agree… but it's much more fun …" Kanou whispered to him, hip still massaging his now leaking cock, and fingers hitting his prostate again and again with the matching rhythm.

"K…Kanou-san!" Ayase tried to wiggle his way out of Kanou's embrace. "Kanou-san… Please… We've already done this three times only few hours ago… I don't think I can take…"

"Ayase!" Kanou tightened his grip on the squirming boy, burying his face at the crook of his neck, fingers still stroking him from inside, drawing unwelcomed pleasure from Ayase's already worn out body. "I need this… I need you, Please?"

Ayase sighed, deliberating, feeling how desperately Kanou was clinging to him, like a lost child.

"Ayase?" Kanou asked again.

Ayase pouted and let out a long breath. "All right."

"Thank you." The large man kissed his shoulder and with a swift motion he flipped them over, so he could get on top of his delicious candy.

"What would you do if I'm unable to walk tomorrow?" Ayase asked the man above him, who was more interested in thrusting his fingers in and out of Ayase'e entrance than to think of the outcome "I'll die of embarrassment if Zack has to carry around me all day." He pouted.

Kanou took those pouting pink lips into another kiss, while Ayase wrapped his legs around the man's waist.

Kanou withdrew his fingers, while kissing Ayase and his lips moved up from his mouth to his ear shell, licking it and then diving into it, coaxing moans out of Ayase, who had a tender spot exactly there.

"If we reach that point, I'll carry you around all day." Kanou answer was whispered into his ear after he was done licking it, driving Ayase into a wanton mess.

Ayase through the haze of pleasure could still feel the man lining himself between his thighs, and he waited for the penetration, both fearing and craving it.

Ayase did not have to wait for long, as Kanou pushed in with one smooth motion, causing both pain and pleasure at the same time.

The boy buried his fingers into Kanou's now wet hair, grazing at his scalp, sensing Kanou's heavy member pulsing inside him, and beginning to move.

Kanou set up a wonderful rhythm, strong, slow and deep. All Ayase could do was to caress his hair and join the ride. Kanou thrust in and out, each time pushing deeper into his body, losing himself in this wonderful tight heat that surrounded his throbbing, leaking member.

Ayase moaned underneath him, his hips meet every thrust with a responding jolt, matching desire with desire, leading them both to climax.

After few steaming minutes, Kanou was close; he lost the steady rhythm into something more erratic and desperate, he sent his hand, struggling for a path between their sweaty tight bodies, to reach for Ayase's member and pump it, so the boy would come first.

Ayase moaned with pleasure, forgetting the world, lost in his heat. Kanou's strong hand was relentless, along with his thick hot cock, moving in and out of him, hitting his prostate with every thrust, Ayase stood no chance; exhausted as he was he came hard and panting, shooting his ribbons of seed into Kanou's anticipating hand.

Ayase shut his eyes and bright blazing light danced behind his closed lids. Arching his back, golden hair wet and sprawled on the pillow was a beautiful sight to behold, and Kanou drank it while thrusting into that tight heat, searching for his own completion.

One more thrust, and another, and Kanou came too, mumbling Ayase's name and filling his body once more with his seed.

Ayase felt the stream of semen, pouring into his body, as Kanou sighed and buried his face in the boy's hair. Ayase realized he no longer minded having the man's seed inside of him, not thinking of it as an intrusion anymore, strange though, what a couple of weeks at 950A would do to you.

A wet kiss was placed on his forehead, and Kanou gently pulled out.

Ayase yawned and stretched, feeling sleepy all over again. As soon as Kanou joins him, warping his strong arms around him, he could fall into a blissful sleep. So he waited, but the cuddle he yearned for did not come. Irritated, he set up again, watching Kanou as he got dressed.

"I'm out for a run, don't wait up for me."

"A run? Now?" Ayase felt somehow insulted, but then Kanou reached for him and took him into a deep, hot kiss again.

Kanou stared into those wide blue questioning eyes and wanted to say something ridiculously sappy such as 'Thank you, Ayase. You are the one beautiful thing in this ugly place that gives me strength to join the line-up every fucking day' But there was no way to bring those words out into the open, so he settled for "I'll be back in an hour or so, go back to sleep"

**oOOo**

Running was the best outlet in this closed up dark tunneled 950A, whenever Kanou's brain was too troubled or when his control over his rage was slipping, he would always go for a run, and he would circle every corridor of every section, as many times as it was necessary, until his lungs burned, or his legs collapsed or his mind calm down, whichever came first.

Now he had Ayase too, to vent out his aggressions through sex, but being a silver acquired him with a stamina only another silver or a gold could match, and he would not have Ayase suffer for it, the poor thing has already tasted his lack of restrain.

So he ran. He ran three rounds, passing the same hallways, the same tunnels, the same screens blurting out strings of enigmatic numbers. He ran in the dim flickering light of fluorescence, minding the same gaps, avoiding the same protuberances on the walls, while his mind screamed 'I want out! I want out of here!'

Where did it come from, this sudden cabin fever? He had already thought he was well adjusted, accepting this hellhole as his own. Accepting, yes… for himself but not for Ayase. Ayase did not belonged here, done nothing to deserve this, another pawn in the war between the Union and the rebels who were led by the boy's father.

So unfair, so brutally unfair.

Kanou was so occupied with thoughts; he didn't realize he was ambushed until it was already too late.

Twenty men, of the Orange, Red and Yellow teams blocked the two corridors he could have chosen his passage from, so he halted, turned on his feet and saw that corridor he just came from was blocked as well by ten more men, Elrick Raus among them towering over the lot, with his hands crossed on his chest and a smug on his face.

Kanou returned the icy glare with a smirk of his own. "Hey Elrick, glad to see you up and about. Trying to even up the chances this time?" he asked the Red's leader, briefly scanning all the attendants.

"No, just doing whatever it takes to take you down and keep you there."

Kanou nodded in acknowledgment, his eyes scrutinizing his opponents, categorizing them into classes by size and weaponry, searching for the best course of action, but there was no way to deny it, he was outnumbered and he could only take half of them down before his luck runs out.

Raus was thinking the same, his face glowing with satisfaction, basking in the glory of his future victory; he was in no hurry to attack. Instead, he glanced down at Kanou and moved about the crowed, enjoying everyone's attention.

"What?" He turned to Kanou, circling him around like a vulture before descending upon its prey "Did you think I'll take it quietly? Did you think I'd let it slide? The way you humiliated me in fronted of everyone and stole away my candy?"

Kanou never lowered his gaze, or lost his calm demeanor. "I won that Candy, fair and square, in the arena, as the rest of us do." He reminded the Red which made him snap.

"I am NOT the rest of us!" Elrick roared at him "I am the king of 950A! You don't cross me and get to live!"

Kanou observed Elrick's face turning from pale to pink to bright red, a color matching his outfit, but said nothing, and would not even flinch at the screaming, which made Elrick even more furies than he was before.

"I'm going to take you down, motherfuckers! I'm going to take all of you down! When I'm done with you bitches, there will be nothing left of you but dust! And I will spit on your dust while fucking your blonde candy!"

Kanou took a deep breath, was this speech never going to end? He was getting rather bored.

"When I'm done with you, there will be no more a black team in 950A, because this color would be as fucking cursed as white! No one will ever…"

"Fuck it…" Kanou murmured under his breath and seized a perfect opportunity while Raus wondered around him to fit a well aimed punch into that square jaw of his.

Elrick screamed with pain, losing his balance and falling on the ground, but that was the signal for everyone else to attack.

They came charging at him, all thirty of them, clubs and knifes and all.

Kanou's first instinct was to crouch and roll down the floor, trying to position himself against a wall, rather in the middle of the swarm. He managed that, although receiving two blows to his chest and one to his head.

He rose up once against the wall, facing his attackers, armed with nothing but his fists, still he was the first to draw blood. He took three men down with one maneuver, breaking someone's leg with a kick, another one's jaw with a fist and sending the third into unconsciousness with a head butt.

After that it was all a blur, automatic attack and defense maneuvers, avoiding sharp objects and inflicting damage with every opportunity. But there were too many of them, and he was taking damage himself. A stab wound to his side, a split of a lip, a club to the temple, the last one was severe, doubling his vision, slowing his motions. He saw Elrick approach, a knife in his hand, ready to join the bloodshed, couldn't tell if he came from the left or the right, as both smiling images danced before his eyes.

But as Elrick lift his arm, a pained scream came from the crowed. Two Yellow teammates dropped dead on the floor, after being stabbed from behind.

Kanou blinked again, wiping the blood from his field of vision, he saw two twin figures clad in blue. This was not a double vision anymore, those were the Kuba twins and for some reason they came to his rescue.

Reassured, he straitened himself, facing Elrick and engaging him, while the Kuba brothers drew some attention to themselves.

He could tell they had a very solid fighting style, in fact if he didn't know better he would have taken them as silvers as well.

And just as luck swayed to his side, the whole corridor was lighted with flashing yellow light and a siren began to whine.

"Unauthorized assembly!" a female robotic voice announced "Unauthorized assembly!" she repeated "Disperse at once!"

They all froze on their feet, knowing what would come next. The robotic guards were on their way, armed with live ammunition; the sprinklers on the ceiling already got activated and started releasing suffocating gas that brought tears to everyone eyes.

"Unauthorized assembly, disperse at once!" The robotic announcer demanded again.

Raus watched with frustration as his soldiers started to take off. "This is not over!" He pointed at Kanou, "soon you go downstairs and I promise you, you're never coming up!"

With that, he turned away and ran.

The Kuba brothers reached for Kanou, one held him steady and the other one checked his wounds.

"Can you walk?" one of them asked.

Kanou nodded, catching his breath "I think so, yeah."

"Good, then run!"

The robotic guards arrived at the scene and opened fire. The brothers helped Kanou up and then they ran bullets at their heels.

They maneuvered away from the attacked zone, dragging Kanou with them.

"Where are we going?" he asked Homare, or was it Misao, he couldn't tell.

"The Blue dormitory."

One of the places he had never been to, should he revere the novelty? But all dorms looked the same, a hall packed up with beds and chairs and tables, smelling like sweat and semen.

At this time of night, most of the inmates were asleep, so they passed between the beds with silence not to wake anyone up. The twins brought him to their private section of the dorm, blocked away from the rest of the hall by a 'do it yourself' wall, composed of all sorts of wooden and metal boards, all patched up together.

He viewed the room, and smiled to himself, since he could now settle a yearlong of speculations and bets, the Kubas did not share a bed, and each one had his own corner of their shared space. The rest of the room looked like an electronic lab, full of computer parts, wires and screens.

One Kuba brother set him on a chair and cleaned his blood from his wounds. "Misao." He answered the unasked question "Looks like all your wounds has already been sealed."

"Yeah, one of the perks of being a silver, we heal very fast."

"We do." Said the other twin, Homare, that is.

"You are silver as well." Kanou noted.

"Yes, we are." Homare answered, picking up what seemed to be a camera and connecting it to the rest of the equipment.

"We are by the gene makeup, but not by training, our parents smuggled us to one of the free worlds when we were just babies." Misao continued, opening up his drawer and fetching something that looked like a deck of cards. "Ready brother?' he asked Homare who was still handling the camera.

"Why did you save me?" Kanou asked, not even trying to figure out what the crazy Kuba were up to.

Miaso smiled, dragging a chair next to Kanou. "We already told you that we'll be on your side when the war begins."

"Why?"

"Because you are the only pilot on 950A."

"How did you know that?" Kanou asked without bothering to deny.

"Play cards with us, will you?" Misao smiled and started dealing for three.

"We're on." Homare said as the camera woke to life and joined them. "Poker?"

"Right on…"

"What are you doing?" Kanou started to feel annoyed, the last thing on his mind was playing a stupid card game in front of a recording machine, only a while after his tight brush with death.

Misao finished dealing and announced his bet.

Homare took his hand, contemplating a reply.

"Why are you not picking up your hand?" Misao eyed Kanou with amusement.

"Are you fucking out of your mind?" Kanou nearly roared at him.

"Play the fucking poker." Homare said. "We only need three minutes of this crap and then we'll answer all your questions. Could you do that for us?"

"Fuck you." Kanou growled and picked up his hand. "At least you have some smokes in this shithole?"

"Sure." Misao sent a hand to his pocket and handed Kanou a cigarette and a matchbox.

Kanou lit it up and since he had nothing better to do while smoking it, he decided that he might as well play some Poker.

So they played about three rounds, all in which he lost, until Homare looked at his watch and stopped them." I think this should be enough…" he said and rose on his feet to fiddle with his camera again.

"But I just got a really good hand now!" Kanou protested.

"And… this is on line…. Now… " Homare announced.

"What the fuck are you doing?"

"We've just tapped into the system and planted our little poker game in the automatic scanning procedure. Whenever they scan this room, they'd get us playing poker, it will take them hours to notice something fishy about it, just enough time to get you to where you should go and come back up again.

"Just stop this crap right now!" Kanou threw his cards on the table "What makes you think I'll go anywhere with you? Fuck off, you crazy shitheads; I'm going back to my bed!"

"Shame." Misao sighed.

"Crying shame." His brother added.

"An awful crying shame." agreed the other.

"To miss an opportunity like that..."

"To see the ship we had found."

"A really nice piece of spacecraft we thought you'd like to wash your eyes with, but…"

"If you're not interested, I apologize of wasting your time."

"No harm done, we've only just…"

"Saved your life."

"Motherfuckers! Don't you dare mess with me!" Kanou rose on his feet, raging.

"Not messing with you… much."

"A ship? A fucking ship in 950A?" Kanou yelled out his astonishment. "You gotta be fucking kidding!"

"Hush now please… this is not common knowledge." Homare grimaced.

"A fucking spacecraft here? In this hellhole?" Kanou ignored him.

"Well, 950A used to be a Union intelligence base before they've turned it into a prison."

"And they have done a poor job clearing it out."

"But a fucking ship? Who misses a fucking ship?"

"Kanou-san, we can stay here and argue or we could go and see this fucking ship."

Kanou let a small frustrated hiss leave his mouth and then he mumbled "Fine, lead the way."

The crazy Kuba brothers moved without a sound, they shoved away a heavy box on the floor from its position, and underneath it was a hidden door revealing a small and narrow staircase leading down as far as the eye can tell.

"950A is like a hive." Homare smiled at Kanou "full of secret path, the Blue knows this one as well as some others; we are willing to share our knowledge with the Blacks."

"We'll see about that." Kanou mumbled again.

Misao fetched them three flashlights, and after handing Kanou one, he went down the stairs.

Homare was still holding the hatched door open. "After you, Kanou-san." He said.

Great, Kanou thought, a Kuba in front and another at my back, but he trusted them enough to play along, after all, they did save his ass only half an hour ago.

The way down was long and claustrophobic, none of them talked anymore. Kanou found himself thinking with longing about his battleship, a beautiful 'Stargaze' 1012B masterpiece, armed to the teeth, self-sustaining, capable of 10 years duration in deep space without a need go under a sky. It was gone now, as well as its one hundred crew members and his brother.

After few more minutes they've reached the end of the staircase, and entered an open space, which resembled a railway station, there was an actual railroad set in front of them.

Misao found the control bar on the wall, and tempered with it. "Thirty seconds."

"Move away from the rails." Homare recommended to Kanou "Unless you no longer need your head."

"Huh?" Kanou glanced at him, but gave up investigating the railways and moved away just in time for the massive metal train car to roam in and screech its breaks as it slowed down. It was a robotic car, designed to keep airlock and move passengers through vacuumed areas of the asteroid, it might as well reach beyond the 950A area.

"I'm not entering a fucking robot!" Kanou protested as the brothers bordered the cart.

"That's the only way fast enough to reach the ship." Misao said.

"The trains' system is fully in our control for about a year now. We've breached it ten months ago and safely used it for eight. Please… Kanou…. Join us."

"Damn you Kubas!" he murmured and followed them in.

The car locked and sealed itself, Misao took the controls and set the course, and soon the train began to move, gaining an impressive speed.

"How come the guards did not pick up on your takeover?"

"Because we are so clever." Homare smugly smiled.

"Good for you." Kanou frowned, "Any other systems you've tapped into that I should know about?"

Homare and Misao exchanged gazes. "No."

"Nothing you should know about before you agree to help us."

"I've agreed to help you the moment I went though that hatch, you arrogant bastards!"

"In that case… we've tapped into 950A mainframe."

"You what?"

"We did. You see, we cracked the numbers' code all can see on the screens."

"Once, those screens were used by Union soldiers in this base for communication. When they evacuated, they left the system running but they took the interface platform off so all that was left were random numbers."

"Took us about two years but we've managed to analyze the code and build the interface again using reverse engineering."

"All those big fancy words!" Kanou huffed "What can you actually do with it?"

"We could switch off every robot and open any lock in 950A if we wanted to." Homare calmly said.

"We can take over this whole operation." Misao conformed.

"There's a catch, though…" Homare added "If we do that, they'd know we've breached the system and there will be an automatic Union overrun, so we try to stay on low profile until we solidify our escape plan, we'll only have one chance."

"And this is low profile…" Kanou wondered as the car sped through the asteroid unfamiliar tunnels, taking them out of the boundaries of 950A into an entirely unknown territory.

The ride took them about forty minutes, and Kanou remembered his promise to Ayase to be back within an hour. He hoped the boy won't freak out, waiting up for him. He hoped that at least he'll be back before the line-up.

When the train finally stopped, Kanou found himself in a huge hangar, similar to the one they used for the arena fights at 950A, but this one was a different hangar, and it had no air pressure, so they had to suit up before leaving the car.

Kanou let the Kuba brothers lead the way, through all the space junk that was chucked in the hall, wondering if they really found a ship that wasn't a complete wreck in this graveyard.

"Here we are." Misao stopped in front of a huge metal object that there could not be mistaken to be anything but a ship.

Kanou looked up at the huge beautiful thing and forgot to breathe for a moment. It has been such a long time since he saw anything that could fly. Without even noticing, he sent his gloved hand to caress the curves of the smooth shiny metal.

"What do you think?" Homare asked with a proud smile behind his helmet.

"This is… this is just…" Kanou lost his way with words and the brothers laughed.

"Can you fly this thing?"

"I can fly anything." Kanou scolded them. "This is a type 'Comet' 122D, medium sized courser, capable of reaching forty per cent of the speed of light, can carry fifty people for a period of a month."

"Ain't she lovely?" Homare continued. "Can you check her out for us; see if she's in any condition?"

"Sure, but these checks can take weeks…"

"Well, we are in no hurry." Misao smirked.

"One critical check I can do right now though…"

"Airlock?"

"No, a fuel check. They stopped manufacturing those ships about a hounded years ago, they run on nuclear cells. I'd like to see who far it had decayed."

"Can you do this now?" a nervous worry seeped into Homare's voice.

"Yes. Let's open her up." Kanou crawled under the belly of the ship, looking for the control panel.

**oOOo**

"I am sorry" Kanou was the first to breach the dreadful silence on their way back.

Unlike the ride to the hanger that was packed with expectations and the thrill of wild hope, the ride back was gloomy, and filled with despair.

"Even if there was enough fuel to take us to the nearest jump point… you could only take fifty people with you, not even the whole blue team, how would you choose?"

The Kuba didn't answer, Homare was curled up to a ball, hugging his knees and burying his face between them, Miaso just watched his brother with an underwriting expression on his face.

"And say we managed to squeeze up a jump, this ship is not nearly armed enough to take a modern Union fighter, which would probably be waiting for it at the exit jump point."

"Do shut up." Misao sighed; Homare only shivered and hugged himself tighter.

Kanou lift his gaze to look at the young leaders of the blue team, he no longer mocked them for their childish dream of escaping 950A, and in fact he realized he was willing to do anything to breathe life to this dream once more.

"Maybe there's another abandon ship somewhere on this asteroid." He offered eventually.

"No there's not." Homare sniffled, head still tucked into it hiding place."We've dedicated a year to this search, there's no other goddamn ship on this shitty rock."

"We don't need a fully functioning one, just one with undamaged fuel cells."

"There is none."

"So maybe we can find a way to recharge the cells using 950A's power station."

"Won't work." Misao answered "Different mechanism, it would only toast them. We know it and you know it, so please shut up."

Kanou resented the cold acknowledged defeat in Misao's voice, it got him angry. So this is it? This is giving up? Has the system worn out even the brightest of minds?

"You were right all along." Homare said without lifting his head, his voice tainted with tears. "We were stupid to think there's a way out of here! Our plan was ridicules and full of holes. The only way out of here is in a body bag…"

And there he was, this proud leader of the blue team, crying his heart out.

Kanou got more and more furious looking at them, until he could hold his rage back no more.

"You spoiled litter brats!" Kanou stood up and roared at the twins. "Look at you, behaving like fucking babies! One little bent on the road, one little dead end and you call it quits? Is this the way to fight for your freedom? Is this the way to earn your life back? Pathetic miserable cunts! This is not the silver way! I'll teach you the silver way! Once you fall, you get up! Bleeding and beating and in pain, you get up! As long as you breathe, you get up! Do you hear me, twats? As long as you still have your legs attached to your body, you get up!"

Homare lifted his teary eyes to look at Kanou, Misao's face revealed his astonishment.

Kanou was pleased that he got their attention, and for the first time in the five years he had been here, he felt like he could finally give words to something he buried deep inside and tried hard to repress.

"I have this crazy idea…" He admitted to them with a low voice, almost embarrassed, almost blushing. "I don't have the slightest clue how to execute it… and it could only work if we get all the teams working together, so what are the odds for that? But it could also get everyone out."

For a second there, the twins only blinked at him, gasping for air. The train car slowed down as it reached back their station, and only when it stopped, Homare smiled at Kanou through his tears.

"So is it time for plane B?" he asked.

"Don't get your hopes up." Kanou warned him. "We cannot leave the system for a long enough time to formulate it, let along shift it into motion."

"We do have time, all the time we need." Misao answered.

"We'll go downstairs with you next week." Homare added.

"I thought it was the Grey's turn."

"The Blue team switched with them. We go downstairs together." Homare wiped his tears from his face and the car's doors opened.

**oOOo**

**TBC**

**OooO**

**A/N**- reviews would be lovely. Until next time, take care!


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N- **Hey, remember this story? It is updating with the rate of a slug running a marathon, but… unless something squishes it, it will reach the finishing line. Cheers to slugs and their mighty determination!

Cheers to you, for not giving up on this story.

Enjoy.

**Silver and cold**

"…. Cause if it's coming for you

Then it's coming for me

But I will be there

Cuz we need each other in the dark

And if it's panicking you

Then it's panicking me

But I will be there

So we've got each other in the dark…"

**DJ Tiesto- In The Dark **

**Darkness follows**

"Report."

"Yes, sir. Thirty Penicillin syringes, forty packs of painkilling tablets, one hundred gauze pads, fifty hypodermic needles, twenty bags of saline, two bottles of chloroform…"

"Stop… just… just stop right there…"

"What?" Ayase lifted his eyes from his notepad to meet the ever scolding gaze of Marcus's black ones. "Is there's something wrong?"

"How many tablets?"

"Huh?"

"How many tablets in each pack of painkillers? And of what type? How many litters in each bottle of chloroform? And exactly how many of the penicillin shots are still in valid?"

Ayase bit his lips and turned to his notepad again, pretending it holds an answer.

"You don't know; do you, candy-boy?" Marcus continued mercilessly "Worst still, you don't know how important it is to delve into such details. You just wonder around with your golden blond hair, and your huge blue eyes, and your tight little ass without a care in the world, do you? Matters of life and death mean nothing to you!"

"Why do you hate me so much?" Ayase asked as tears started trailing down his milky white skin.

Marcus gaped for a second, slightly taken aback, but he recovered quickly and his features returned to their severe scolding state. "Don't." his dark eyes narrowed "Don't make this about you. This is about us, the black team, and about going fucking downstairs! So count everything again and this time do it right for fuck sake!"

Ayase ran his sleeve up his face. "Yes sir." He nodded.

Marcus hummed and returned to his business which was fortunately elsewhere and just as he disappeared from sight, Zack entered the sleeping hall, now resembling a war-zone more than a dormitory for this past week, and the man was carrying three cylinders of compressed gases of some sorts. Zack was accompanied by two men of the blue team; they mingled so often with the blacks ever since the leaders decided to go downstairs together. No one knew exactly why Kanou finally accepted the Blues' as allies after refusing their constant offers for so long, but it was welcomes just as well, now that the Reds and their do bidders swore war against the Blacks.

"Just place them here… against the wall… carful now… good work, boys. Now let's get the rest of them…"

"Zack…" Ayase smiled at the handsome deputy, and Zack smiled back and ruffled his soft golden hair.

"I gotta ditch you, buddy, we've got tons and tons of equipment to move out of the storage rooms and only twelve hours to do so… Hey, sweetie, are you crying? Did Marcus give you a hard time again? That old fart… spent too many years here that he forgot how to behave around people."

"No, it is fine…" Ayase sniffed "It is really fine… I only got what I deserved for doing a crappy job anyway."

"Are you sure?" Zack's green eyes bore into his own and Ayase nodded vigorously, adding a brave smile. "Well… we are all edgy, baby; going downstairs… the anticipation is a bitch, probably worst that the fucking trip itself…" And as if to prove his point a burst of screams and shouts erupted in one far end of the dormitory. In few seconds it was escalating into a complete ruckus, kicks and punches thrown in abundance. "Will you excuse me?" Zack sighed and hurried to join the mayhem, Ayase not too far behind.

When they got there, Kanou was already on top of the situation, or to be more precise, on top of the man who had caused it. Ayase recognized him as the man who tried to take away his pillow eons ago.

The man struggled under Kaou's hold, like a wild bear, but with all his strength and might he was still no match to the Silver who knew exactly where to put the exact amount of pressure to restrain him.

"Would you calm the fuck down already?" Kanou asked the man below him, voice on the verge of boredom.

"This is a set up! You know it is a set up! This is because I didn't play nice with your candy!"

"Shut your cunt, Joe, we all drew our sticks and yours came a bit sorter… take it like a man or die like a pussy, but would you stop this useless drama already?"

"I don't want to stay at the tip!" The big man was actually whining. Kanou scanned his surrounding and recognized Zack and Ayase as new arrivals, he struggles to maintain his serious face while his gaze greeted them.

Ayase turned to Zack with yet another question "What is…."

"The tip?" Zack smiled "It is the very edge of the 950A bolt, a small cell, like a capsule, where the control panels of the downstairs systems are placed, not a pleasant shack to spend a month locked in, if you are claustrophobic or if you dislike the smell of unwashed men. "

"Tip or pit… shit or crap, it is all the same." Kanou continued. "Now calm down, Joe, you're just making an ass of yourself in front of other people"

For some reason, the big guy calmed down and started to look like he was excepting his fate. Kanou took it as a sign to lose his deadly grip and Joe got up and dusted himself up.

"What are you looking at?" He growled at Ayase. "Show's over!"

Ayase watched the man walk away, face red with rage or shame or just the aftermath of this rumble, when a soft warm hand caressed his cheek, he looked up to Kanou who was watching him. Being at the center of this man's attention felt like basking in the sun, the sun that sometime warmed but some other times scorched him, the sun… how he had missed its radiant golden rays.

"How are you?" Kanou asked and Ayase blushed to his ears.

"I'm… I'm ok… trying to be helpful as much as I… can."

"That's good; we cannot have any slackers, can we?"

"No, sir."

"Sir?" someone approached them, a nice young man Ayase knew only by his surname.

"Yes, Hall?"

The young man handed Kanou a piece of purple paper. "This came from Someya."

Kanou hummed as he read the note, it held pleasing news, the gold has accepted Gion into her team, once he comes out of the medic section, one less thing to worry about. Once read, he tore the paper into tiny pieces to scatter on the floor.

Hall looked at Kanou as if he had something else to say, but before he could voice it, someone screamed Kanou's name in panic at another area in the dormitory.

Kanou eyed Ayase, smirking; his hand reaching his pocket and fishing out the cigarette box. "The fun never ends…" he murmured as he lit up his smoke.

"Kanou, sir, come along quickly!" By the Hindu accent it must have been Hassan who called out.

"Coming…" Kanou growled to himself.

Ayase once again followed the long strides and the trail of smoke. This time Zack chose not to join, instead he started a friendly chat with Hall.

At the center of the commotion were four men, two of Hassan's men, holding down a third, forcing him to his knees, and Hassan was facing them, pale, holding a piece of equipment in his hands.

"What's going on?" Kanou asked with a slight tinge of amusement, standing next to Hassan, still smoking his cigarette.

"This is a complete disaster!" Hassan roared "And at the worst timing too, just before going downstairs. I have no idea how we can overcome this hindrance under such a short notice, I…"

"Hassan!" Kanou stop the mumbling man. "What the fuck's going on?"

"Look, just take one look at this…"

Hassan handed the piece of equipment to Kanou; and though Ayase had no idea what they were all looking at, Kanou's brow frowned. He threw the butt away and glared at the man forced to kneel down.

"How many of them?"

"60% of all the filters!" Hassan spat out "This shit of a man sold our carbon filters and replaced them with expired ones."

"It wasn't me, I swear to god!" the man on the floor pleaded, struggling in the arms of his captors.

"It was you indeed, you worthless maggot!" Hassan shouted at him. "I gave you the credit to buy the emergency masks, 250 group credit points I gave you only yesterday, and today you have 200 extra credit points in your personal account. Can you explain that? Can you explain the expired filters?" Hassan lashed at him, choking in his anger.

"Kanou, sir… I beg you…" the accused man pleaded with tears. "I did nothing!"

Kanou ignored him, facing Hassan instead "Show me."

"Bring the tablet." Hassan asked another of his men.

Kanou looked at the numbers on screen and his frown deepened. "Hassan is right, and we do have a real problem here…"

"We will never get new filters in time…" Hassn moaned.

"We will." Kanou calmly corrected him and turned to look at the traitorous teammate. "Do you have any alternative explanation to what happened here?"

The inmate shivered and trembled under his gaze. "It was a… mistake? A funny computer error?"

"Lame." Kanou concluded, extracting a dagger out of his sheath.

Funny thing, Ayase always noted that thing hanging down from Kanou's belt but he never gave it his full attention.

"Please…" the traitor wiggled under the hold of his detainers, but he was an old weak man and was no match for them.

"You know the penalty of treason." Kanou approached the kneeling man with the blade. "You leave me no choice."

It was so very swift, Ayase remembered after wakening up, Kanou grabbed the man by his hair, and slit his throat with one efficient strike. Blood poured out the man's body accompanied by disgusting gurgling sounds, and he fell face down into his own pool of blood, the rest was darkness.

oOOo

"Here, drink this." A soft voice coaxed him into consciousness. Ayase set up blinking, he was in bed, Kanou's bed, under their blankets, but Kanou was nowhere to be seen, and the young man before him, smiling at him and offering him a drink was…

"Hall?"

"No brain damage, good, now drink."

Ayase nodded with gratitude and reached out for the offered cup, the liquid was transparent but the smell was strong, not water then. The boy downed the liquor with just one gulp, and it burned all the way down his throat, through his chest and to his belly.

"Oh god, what was that?" Ayase asked, coughing.

"Spirit, we usually clean the toilets with it." Hall answered with a charming smile.

"Oh god… why am I here? Why are you here?"

"You're here because you passed out, I'm here to look after you since Zack is really busily and he asked me really nicely."

"Oh god!" Ayase remembered everything all of a sudden. He just saw a man butchered, he just saw Kanou kill someone in cold blood.

Hall saw the horror in Ayase's eyes and his smile turned into a sad one. "Take it easy, it is your first time, but it would probably not be your last."

"Kanou…he… he"

"Killed a man, yes… sometimes he kills, that's what leaders do." Hall sighed softly "So we won't have to…" he added under his breath.

"I don't understand why did he killed him, was there no other way to… to solve it in a civilized manner?"

Hall sneered, his handsome face distorted with mockery. "Civilized way… Ayase, dear, we are far far away from civilization here on 950A… and if you have some sense of order a delusion of structure it is only because of those goddamn robots. Tomorrow, when we are hundreds of kilometers deep in the guts of this rock, you'll learn that we are all alone, in the wild, at the mercy of nature. You will learn what it means to have a strong leader such as Kanou who is the only one between us and the abyss. I was here before Kanou, I know."

Ayase gazed at Hall, breathing deeply. It was a strange thing, prison, you can pass a guy every morning for years without sharing one single word and suddenly one random day, he shows his bleeding heart to you.

Hall needed to talk, and Ayase wanted to listen.

"My mum and dad were both copper, plain old boring citizens, genetic engineers. They had access to the most advanced genes, experimental ones that even the gold did not have. They got tempted, they stole some and they made me… up to this day I have no idea what kinds of qualities I have that others don't, I guess that without the proper training even the most exquisite genes are useless. To make a long story short, my parents were caught and executed. I was fifteen at the time, and I was supposed to share the same fate, but a judge decided to send me here as a candy instead."

"You? Candy?" Ayase gasped, after all this guy was one of Kanou's top men, sharing the most dangerous tasks with the elite of the black team, but looking at Hall with a new, scrutinizing gaze he could understand it. The man had a smooth pale complexion, a mop of silky chestnut hair, and his eyes were a beautiful shade of amber, adorned with thick long eyelashes. He must have been breathtaking when he was a youth.

"I was a candy, yes… of the black team, when it was ruled by a group of goons."

"Marcus spoke of them too. So you were their candy? What was it like? Where they cruel to you? Were you taken by one or…"

Hall shook his head smiling. "No questions! You distract me, little boy, I was heading somewhere… I know I had a point to… Yes, ok… Kanou took over the group and changed it, he freed me and Marcus and so many others… so before you pass judgment upon him, have this in mind- he kills to save life, not for pleasure as some do."

"The ones that had you… are they all dead?"

"All but one, an old bugger at the red team."

"And you've stopped being a candy after that?"

"Yes I did… well… sometimes I let Zack have his way with me, but it is freely given with mutual enjoyment."

"Ho…"

"Alright now…" Hall smiled again "Sorry if I came up too strong. I must get going, loads to do." The young man got up and was about to leave when Ayase stopped him, by grabbing his shirt.

"Hall…"

"No, Ayase, don't get up. You are to rest, doctor's orders. See you later." He gently released the boy's hold and was heading to the curtains.

"Hall!" Ayase pleaded and while sighing, Hall turned back to face him.

"Yes…?"

"What is your given name?"

Hall blushed all of a sudden, but smiled still. "Bailey."

"Yukiya, my given name is Yukiya."

"Nice to meet you, Yukiya."

"You too, Bailey."

oOOo

Kanou came back to their bed few hours after lights out. Ayase has already learned to recognize the man by the sound of his steps, his silhouette upon the curtains, his scent of smoke and musk.

Kanou entered without a word; hand reaching the drawer of the nightstand to fetch the bottle of lube, Ayase watched him in silence as he opened the cap to pour the scented oil on the palm of his colossal hand while his other hand reaching his zipper to release the equally colossal cock from his pants.

At his safe hideout in the burrow of blankets, the boy watched the man as he patiently and thoroughly smeared the lube on his erection; it was indeed a sight to behold, and fear. Once Kanou was done, his attention turned to the boy on his bed, stern face softens with a smile and black eyes burn with purpose.

Ayase needed no instructions, he slithered away from the blankets, lowering his pants to his knees, and kicking them away then obediently rolling over on his belly.

His submission earned him a deep hum of content, as Kanou's hungry gaze devoured the sight of his perfect mounds of flesh, pale and flawless; Ayase spread his legs as far as the bed allowed him, smirking victories as Kanou choked on his breath.

The man soon mounted him; his heavy body pressed him into the mattress, his massive thighs spreading him even further, and his strong arms anchoring him down.

The first penetration always came with a pang of pain, to be expected when such a large, thick manhood pressing its way into a small, tight opening, but Ayase knew his body well enough already to trust it to adjust and take in whatever Kanou had to offer.

Kanou was a rough and coarse man, but even he knew to wait and give Ayase the much needed pause for him to relax and accept his intrusion, but once he realized he was well received, he became relentless, thrusting hard and deep, faster and faster all the time.

Ayase concentrated on breathing, trying to stay lax and pliant as Kanou's heavy member rammed into him, again and again, breaching his anus and filling his ass over and over again in waves, and the pleasure was build inside him whether he welcomed it or not.

Kanou's hand reached under his belly, to cup his dripping cock, adding to the pleasure he was already receiving from behind.

With Kanou's strong, hard thrusts and his squishing hand Ayase had no choice but to whimper and come, soiling Kanou's fist and his own thighs.

Kanou fucked him through his climax, and planted a soft kiss on his damp nape, but still searching his own release, he continued his relentless pace, cock in and out of tight hole, until orgasm found him as well, and he spent himself deep inside the wet and hot flesh of the boy's channel.

They lingered for a few moments, spent, panting, connected still, until Kanou howled softly with satisfaction, pulled out and rolled away from the boy, laughing quietly.

Ayase eyed him for a while, fearing the man had lost his sanity, but Kanou returned the gaze this amusement and sent his hand to ruffle the already messy golden hair.

"Thank you." Kanou whispered, smiling, still catching his breath. "I really needed a good fuck at the end of this shitty day."

Ayase sighed, a memory returning to him, of Kanou's knife running through a man's throat smooth as butter, and the blood, so much blood that followed. He turned on his back, gazing at the ceiling, it resembled the ceiling of a cave he once visited with fellow students, only more metal than rock.

"Glad to be of service." Ayase whispered not meaning to be heard, but Kanou heard him still and his smile turned into a frown.

"Sarcasm doesn't suit you."

"But it is the truth, is it? I know what I'm good for, I know what the men see when they look at me, they don't see the person I am, for everyone here, you included, I'm just a boy-cunt, begging to be fucked."

Kanou turned to his side, to have a better look at his candy, to see the fresh tears in his eyes.

Ayase sniffled and continued "They all wish you out of their way so they could have my ass to themselves, all of them, even Zack, I think… but not Marcus, no, he's too old for fucking so he just find me completely useless,"

"You're not useless… just… misplaced."

Ayase smiled at the tenderness of Kanou's voice. "Maybe back at home… I was going to finish my studies and find a job, but even then, I got hit by men, even straight men, because of my looks."

"Do you prefer women?"

"Women? No! No… I guess I prefer to be left alone. Not a possibility on this hellish rock."

"On this rock, they leave men to die. Some of them are rapists and murderers, some of them are scum yes, but few are good, honorable men that rebelled against the system and were brought here to rot as well." Kanou spoke with sorrow. "Marcus is one of them, his only crime was to challenge the system, refusing to work for the union anymore, he wanted to come out to the press and reveal what was going on at Lead and Iron types of worlds, but they came for him at night, killing his wife and daughter, sending him to 950A to die along with his secrets."

Ayase gasped "I didn't know."

"Because you didn't ask. Zack's story is no better, Hall's…"

"I know Hall's."

Kanou viewed him with a smile and reached for the nightstand, this time for his smokes. "And I know each and every fucking sob story of each and every fucking inmate of the black team, yours included. You know why? Because I am their leader, I am the one who's supposed to keep them from falling apart, and glue them back together after they do, so we could all function and survive this shitty place as a team." Kanou lit up a cigarette and sucked the smoke eagerly in. "Now, look at me and tell me what you see." He commanded Ayase with a smirk.

Ayase set up and stared at this man, this warrior, with his heavy built and broad muscles, flesh scared with past injuries but strong and hard as marble.

"I see… I see someone strong, strong enough to keep me safe and give me protection,."

"Can't see a person there either… You only seek what I can provide you with." Kanou smirked still, and why is this so different from what men see in you, my sweet candy?"

"You're wrong, it is different." Ayase hissed, pouting. "It's nothing alike, our situation. You rule this place, while I depend on you to merely survive. People see you as a leader, I'm nothing but a toy… used only of sex."

"Don't underestimate sex, Ayase" Kanou answered with deep contemplative voice. "Sex is vital here, a small drop of tenderness in this sea of hell. What can a man expect here but boredom and hardship and death? To be able to hold someone, even for just one night, to fuck into something other than your own fist… People fight hard for candies here, they even die sometimes."

After Kanou was done talking, of a few moments they lingered in silence, nothing but the low sounds of the sizzling cigarette fire to disturb it.

"I never thought of this… this way." Ayase admitted after a while, Kanou smiled finishing his smoke, but instead of crushing the butt into the wall like he always did, he just let it wither away.

"One day, soon enough, I'll lose my power to protect you. Injury, illness, going fucking out of my mind like Elrick, whatever, and I'll be taken down like a rabid animal, and some other guy will be the leader of the black team. The cunts wouldn't even remember my name… You'll find another to replace me with the blink of an eye, so rest easy Ayase, the power of your boy-cunt is stronger than you think."

Astound, Ayase was left again with no words for a long while, and Kanou, too tired to wait for a replay started to fix the blankets around them.

"Turn off the flashlight please." Kanou asked Ayase who was much closer to it, and a sigh of pleasure left his lips as he rested his head on the pillows.

Ayase did as asked and sent their small space into darkness. The rest of the dormitory was as dark, and so silent. No games tonight, or fights, or sex, all the inmates were saving their strength for tomorrow's plunge.

"Kanou…"

"Go to sleep, already…" the man murmured and turned away from the boy.

"Kanou…" Ayase insisted, pressing his face to the broad back.

"What?"

"What is it like there? Downstairs?"

"You only have to wait until tomorrow to get your answer."

"I know… but…"

"It is cold, and deep, and sharp, and mostly unforgiving, but don't worry, stay by my side and stay alive."

"Kanou…"

"Fuck… what?" he turned to face his irritating candy.

Ayase smiled shyly and claimed his lips with a soft kiss.

"What was that for?" Kanou asked in a whisper after Ayase receded.

"Nothing, go to sleep."

**oOOo**

**TBC**

**OooO**

**A/N- **Would you give this slug a review? Until next time, Take good care


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N- ** Can you believe it is almost 2014? And I've started SNC at 2011… Unbelievable. Thank you for sticking up with this story until now and huge, gigantic thanks for all who reviewed, followed and favored it.

**Silver and cold**

"Sick and tired of this world  
There's no more air  
Trippin' over myself  
Goin' nowhere  
Waiting  
Suffocating  
No direction  
And I took a dive"

**Ryan Cabrera- On the way down**

.

.

**Five hours**

"Ayase…" A deep, yet soft voice blended into his dream, calling his name.

"Ayase…"

"Hmm… what?" He mumbled and snuggled further into his pillow.

"Ayase…" Hands grabbing at his arms, hot breath on his ear.

Now the boy was completely awake and he rolled within the embrace of the man to face his black eyes.

"What is it?"

"Listen to me, Ayase, the alarm will be set on any minute now, and after that we'd be going downstairs. I'm going to get really busy really soon and I might not have another chance to… I want you to promise me to do whatever you're told to, stick close to Marcus at all times… don't try anything foolish, stay safe… Promise me you'll stay safe."

Ayase blinked and swallowed, and the horrible screeching alarm set in, both deafening and freezing the blood.

Kanou did not let go. "Promise me." He insisted.

"I… I promise."

Kanou's lips landed on his with a soft swift kiss, than curved up with a smile and he rose up loosening his grip. "Here we go." He whispered, than got out of bed, drawing back the curtness.

"Good morning lazy fucks!" he roared above the cacophonic sound of the alarm "Rise and shine, people, it is downstairs today!"

Men arose from their beds with a frown or a scowl to great each other with grave silence, no morning greetings, no jokes, no friendly teases as they dragged themselves reluctantly to form the straight line near the bars.

"All inmates please report to line up. All inmates please report to line up." The familiar automatic female voce urged them to the scan.

Ayase held himself still as the green rays scanned his features, throwing once I a while a glance at Kanou how tolerated his own scan tight lipped and brooding.

"Scan completed- Black team's population at 99% capacity. Morning line-up is completed."

The scanning robots retreated and doors clicked open.

Ayase woke up from his trance as Kanou turned to his teammates "All right everyone, get dressed, take your personal and group gear and follow me. You've got five."

"Get going, people" Zack continued "This ain't the first time around, you know the drill."

Ayase certainly did not, sure he knew he was supposed to change into his thermal suite and put on the air supplying unit on it, but he couldn't figure out if he has done it correctly, it would be horrible to find out while chocking.

Ayase struggled with the buckles and straps while desperately watching the others finishing their preparations and exiting their dormitory.

"Need some help, little guy?" someone approached him.

"Bailey …"

Ayase could not help but smile with relief.

"Turn over and let me see."

Ayase blinked a tear and obeyed.

"Looks …just about… fine…" the young man reassured him after tightening one of the straps a bit and fumbling with a plastic tube."You know how this works, right? In there, there's a catalyst that takes your carbon dioxide and breaks it back to oxygen. It has about six hours worth of work before it needs refreshing and you can monitor it with this bracelet- once it turns blue you've got one minute to plug it into a power source for recharging… I would not worry about it, though, because you'll stay mostly at the pit and not venture out. Your bracelet is also a communicator, so you could keep in touch with the rest of us. You know how to use it, right?"

"Yes…" Ayase said hesitatingly. "Every bracelet has a number on it. You press the number of the person you want to speak to and then press "send"."

"What happens if you only press "send"?"

"Then everyone hears you."

"Great, what's Kanou's number?"

"83"

"And Zack's?"

"48."

"Mine is 71, are you ready to go?"

"Yes." Ayase turned back, smiling gratefully; grabbing a hold on the medical bag he was in charge of and followed Hall out.

They were not heading to the dining hall as they did on maintenance duty, but deep into the mechanical section instead.

"No breakfast today?" Ayase asked and Hall smiled.

"No, baby, we go down on an empty stomach, safer this way. We can't have anyone vomiting into his breather, can we?"

Kanou was up on the lead talking to Hassan and Zack as they walked, Ayase had no hope of catching up with him. His suite was itchy and it heated up quite quickly as they started to march, his medical bag was heavy on his shoulders along with his personal bag and he seemed to be unable to place his mask comfortably on his face, it was so confining and claustrophobic and he could not breath right.

"There you go." Someone yanked his mask off, Marcus.

Ayase moved his hand on his sweaty locks to keep them from falling on his eyes; it was already dark at the edge of his sight.

"You didn't have to put it on just yet…" Marcus sneered "And you were also hyperventilating which was a very bad combo."

"Thank you."

"Not at all…"

They continued to walk together, and Ayase noted that everyone has already passed them, they were the last in line, walking so slowly, and when Ayase realized that it was because of Marcus that they have opened this gap, he looked at the old man with worry.

"Are you alright?"

Marcus flinched at the question "A bit tired, that's all"

It looked like he was in some sort of a pain, his face was pale and his breath heavy but Ayase knew he would not be allowed to inquire any further.

So they walked on, corridor after corridor, screen after screen, some he though to recognize from the maintenance duty but then again, all those tunnels looked the same.

Then, the group had reached an area where the tunnel opened up into a very wide, high, and a very round cavity, and at its center there was a hollow pillar rising up and falling down where Ayase's gaze couldn't follow.

The Black group settled there, placing their gear down, breaking into small groups, lighting up cigarettes and chatting.

Ayase approached Kanou's group with shy steps but was welcomed with a warm smile. The talk was about the best way to split the men for the descending.

There was nothing he could contribute on the topic, so he settled next to Zack just enjoying the company. Ayase looked at his surrounding, trying to figure it out. The hall was vast and spacious, almost like a cathedral, but with near to no light, and it was of steel rather than marble that covered the walls, all the same it made him want to pray.

"We're at the center of the bolt" Zack answered his unspoken question. "There's an elevator pier here that goes all the way up or down. You've already used it once, don't you remember?"

Ayase shook his head; there were many things he could not recall at the moment, his entire life before 950A, for example, was a total mystery to him.

Minutes later, the Blue team arrived, the young twins in the lead and the rest of the lot following them. As one of the twins recognized Kanou in the crowd his face lit up and he raised his arm in a wave.

"You're late" Kanou greeted them.

"Actually we're on time." Homare answered smiling "You were early."

"A smoke?" Kanou offered both a cigarette "last one before the drop."

"Sure, why not."

"Thanks."

Homare and Misao took upon the offering and Kanou landed them his lighter as he gazed upon their men. "Your Blues are ready?"

"As ready as they'll ever be."

"That's our…" Misao tried to recall.

"Third trip down to hell" Homare reminded him "And yours?" He turned to Kanou.

"Eleventh…"

"No shit." Both twins choked on their smoke at the same time.

"Check this out…" Homare handed Kanou a tablet and the screen showed black white and grey security camera online video data.

"Hey that's our…"

"Dormitories, yes. We figured out that it would be best to keep an eye on them while we are away, in case Raus or one of his henchmen snoops around while we're gone. We know he's up to something fishy and we thought…"

"You thought right, brilliant, actually. Here, Ayase!" Kanou handed the tablet to the boy. "You'll be in charge of this. Any suspicious move and you report back to me, understood?"

"Yes, sir." The boy accepted the tablet with a shaky hand, and tucked it neatly in his backpack.

Hassan, accompanied by two black teammates and three others from the blue team approached Kanou's group.

"We are all set to go." Hassan said smiling. "Much looking forwarded for two months at the tip"

"Sure you are."

"I've heard that you bought the new carbon filters from the Greens. What a relief and to think we were about to go down with invalid ones… How did you convince them to sell?"

"That was easy." Kanou smirked "They are six months away from their downstairs duty, plus they're broke thanks to Gion's scheming. It was an easy bargain"

"And a genius one, sir. I bet you could have been a great business man out there, in a different life perhaps."

"In a different life I'd be a billionaire." Kanou smirked. "And I'd run a flying circus."

"All ends well then…" Hassan smiled "I'll be off now; we'll start sending the platforms down as soon as we're settled."

"Great. Don't forget, once we're in, I expect radio contact once every two hours."

"I know the drill, sir. Best of luck."

"You too."

oOOo

The first platform arrived about 45 minutes after Hassan's departure. It was a hideous thing, a heavy pallet of bare steel, falling down out of nowhere, making no sound at all. Two cables of metal followed it, like giant anacondas, one colored blue and the other red.

"Platform one launched, please confirm." A radio transmission came from Kanou's control bracelet, Hassan's voice.

"Confirmed." Kanou answered. "Keep rolling them down."

"Roger that."

"O.k. First wave, get on board." Kanou ordered.

"First wave, go go go!" Misao hurried his men.

And the first group of four approached the platform, placing their breathers on their faces, loading their gear and taking their positions.

Zack was on the first wave, as well as Homare and wait… was Kanou on the first wave too?

"Kanou-san!" Ayase could not stop himself from running into the man's arms.

Kanou lowered his gaze to the boy, amusement glittering in his eyes. "What's with you?" he mumbled softly, obviously embarrassed in front of their audience.

"I want to go with you." Ayase buried his face in the man's chest.

"First wave is the most dangerous one." Kanou answered "If things get wrong they usually get wrong on the first wave. It is safer that way."

"No!" Ayase nearly wept.

"Let go now." Kanou chuckled softy "Let go. See you soon." And with that, and a kiss, Kanou freed himself and joined the others at the pallet.

"Take us down" He whispered to his bracelet.

"Down you go." Hassan answered, and Kanou smiled at Ayase before placing his mask on.

Ayase only caught a glimpse of it, as with silence, the platform hurled down so fast it almost looked like it evaporated into thin air.

On the second wave Hall and Misao left, and on the third wave Ayase recognize two more friendly faces biding him farewell. He was left on the last group with no one he knew save Marcus.

It seemed like forever until their platform arrived, and as much as Ayase longed for it to show up, he dreaded it when it finally came reeling in. He found himself staring at it, until Marcus places his heavy hand upon his shoulder. "Come help me out with the medical gear."

"Yes." Ayase breathed deeply and followed Marcus's lead.

Ayase's worry for Marcus only grew as they carried their bags to the pallet, only yesterday Marcus lifted those bags with ease and today, every step was a struggle, and they were among the last to go on board.

Marcus took out a cotton handkerchief from his pocket to wipe out the sweat from his face before settling in.

"Are you sure you are alright?" Ayase asked as he tried to figure out how to encore himself to the safety bars.

"Would you stop your nagging already?" Marcus grumbled at him while helping him settle in. "If you must know the truth- the truth is that this is my 26'th trip down, and I'm sick and tired of it. There you go, happy?"

"Marcus I'm sorry, I didn't know…"

"Just put your goddamned mask on!"

Ayase sighed and did as he was told. As much as he tried to oppress it, he could not shake his excitement away. It was his first time downstairs and he felt safe under Kanou's wings, safe as a kid with his father buckling up for his first roller coaster ride, and he knew this was foolish but he was truly eager to explore the depths of this asteroid, from bits and pieces he picked up of random conversations, he knew downstairs to be both horrific and breathtakingly beautiful.

"Hello sweet pea." Someone sat down near him, far too close, rubbing against his shoulder. "It has been a long time, but still…do you remember me? Tom?"

Ayase turned to look at the man, and he was familiar but in an uncomfortable, repelling way, he had no clue.

"Must be the shave." Tom mumbled with disappointment.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Ayase tried to be polite.

"You will, honey, you will..." Tom smiled again revealing his teeth that were for some reason decorated with silver, and then that smile disappeared behind a mask, which was an improvement at least at Ayase's opinion.

Their wave leader passed his glance on the group and then gave his green light for Hassan to start lowering them down.

oOOo

Ayase soon forgot all about his creepy neighbor, and disregarded him as someone who happened to share his ride but will have no further interaction with, and he focused on the descent, it felt wonderful at first, his heart accelerated with the speed of the plunge. He felt weightless, light as a feather, and he felt a wave of air brushing though his hair, which was the only exposed part of his body, and still it has been ages since he felt a breeze and he enjoyed it as it came.

He wondered what will happen if he let go of the bars. Will his hand rise up as floating? He freed one hand and indeed felt it pulled gently up, until someone took it by force and placed it back at the bar, Marcus, and he mumbled something incoherent behind his mask.

"What?"

"Keep them down if you wanna keep them at all!" the old man scolded him, naturally.

"Embrace yourselves." The wave leader announced at the public communicator.

Ayase looked around to see everyone crouching down, so he did his best to imitate them.

"Airlock." The leader informed them as they came into a sudden halt.

Ayase found himself glued to the flood, but this uncomfortable feeling lasted only a few seconds.

They all looked up, so Ayase raised his eyes to, to see two enormous platforms closing in above them, casting an ever growing shadow and sealing them away from the light.

Then a noise, a machine of a sort, screeching and moaning, what was its function? The ringing of his ears gave it away; the air was sucked out of their chamber, and the pressure in his ears grew larger and larger until he thought his ears will bleed, but instead it was his nose that bled. His first instinct was to try and remove the mask to pinch it, but both Tom and Marcus stopped his hand.

"No, silly boy!" Tom giggled.

"Leave it on!" Marcus roared.

"Airlock established, hands on bars." The wave leader continued, he was one of the blue team, and Ayase didn't know him, yet he seemed very calm and that was what really mattered.

Ayase decided to comply this time, as two platforms opened beneath them, but holding no lights, and the plunge continued, slower this time and a bit more shaky, but no air movement and no sound save the sound of his own breathing, and it was cold, it was getting colder by the second, creeping underneath his thermo suit to freeze his sweat.

"Illuminate the flanks." The wave leader commanded, and the inmates in position turned on the platform flank flashlights, and they gave away an eerie pale blue glow as if they were diving into an ocean.

"Look up." Tom placed his arm upon Ayase's shoulder, and as much as the boy wanted to brush it away, he lingered, paralyzed maybe, enjoying the other's body warmth perhaps, so he looked up, and his breath was taken away. They were diving down a narrow chasm, made entirely of metal ores, and the only human signature on it was the little track the platform moved upon, the rest was razor sharp sculptured, glittering like diamonds, still and frozen like ice and it was beautiful as much as it was scary.

"300 kilometers to the pit going at 60 kilometers per hour." The commander said "Five hours till touchdown, try to get some rest."

After that, the commander disconnected himself from the public radio, and an unnatural silence filled their decline.

Ayase could not tare his gaze from his surroundings; he drank in the breathtaking view of this natural deep pore, with its colorful metal wall, carved as if a giant hand clawed it with its nails, blue and purple and green, sometimes even gold spots adorned it, and it reminded him the color of a water puddle tainted with oil.

A heavy burden fell on his shoulder, warm and weary; Ayase turned towards it and saw Marcus silvery mane resting against his neck.

"Are you ok?" he asked the old man but his voice must have not breached his clumsy mask, and Marcus did not respond.

Frustrated he knew that all he could do was to wait, until this dive would be over, until they reach whatever it is downstairs that is waiting for them.

Ayase took a deep breath, leaned into his sit and closed his eyes. Five more hours, the wave leader said, he really should try and get some sleep.

OooO

**A/N**- Happy holidays, everyone. Hope to update soon.


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